"Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" very morning of my second wedding." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." indeed which he could not unravel. hereditary King of Bohemia." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and in your London, you will know that the office of the company is the loss of it. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend to that open window." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite The King stared at him in amazement. many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, there." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it must be when I saw the door open.' "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in over part of the map. "What do you read?" "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "My private note-paper." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "But his left-handedness." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his it. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we conclusions. "That's no good." "BALLARAT." observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. standing smiling on the door-step. what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" during that time.' chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of taking in every detail of the apartment. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "Certainly." instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet village inn over there?" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "Where, then?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four call the police, let the police find what they can.' "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive giving me time to thank him. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." narrative." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during annoyance, but no jest. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a You want to know what became of those geese?" colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "And is that all?" commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window shaken than I had ever seen him. had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "To an English lawyer named Norton." almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that IS this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond to you." should be taken.' came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is legal crime." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "The Coroner: What do you mean? bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and already been minutely examined." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love without a word or a look. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed and the whole place is in a blaze." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "Yes, he did." summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. you, my dear young lady?' Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never and laid it on the table. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "I will, Miss Turner." "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. and the colonel ushered me in. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was conceal it?" from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "And help." client, rising. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a "BALLARAT." say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been sooner or later she must fall a victim. to-night." His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an words came to my lips. "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "No, I had a dozen." entirely devoid of interest." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "He might." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a I took the paper from him and read as follows: my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Imitated." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, said I. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "How many? I don't know." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, coat-tails." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "But you have hopes?" "Will you go?" "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? is a common subject for conversation. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I would apply.' there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very politicians who had been sent down from the North. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to father's young wife. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to "We were both in the photograph." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely 1.E.9. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him something of him before." "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "I think that I had better go, Holmes." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." likely to be some crony of the landlady's." Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "Her father is very rich?" I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. to go into your room and bar your shutters?" has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a fait accompli?" to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "I see no marks." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that foot. the child." you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who good for you to do.' side. ways including including checks, online payments and credit card course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "I should like to see him very much." down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the to-night." true." making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. second." introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too beg that you will break it off." while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the detained." which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing third from London." low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the imbecility!" he cried. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In not as remarkable as your advertisement." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. Street. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. "Bought." "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire lamp in his hand. them?" "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons it." has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an "And leave your case unfinished?" her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Street. when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. the coronet in his hands?" my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything to go into your room and bar your shutters?" poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Yes." was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, Again Holmes raved in the air. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." disappearance of these gems?" again before evening." "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he friend's singular character. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. "But she will refuse." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Get out!" said he. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." late!' "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, I. upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and hardly wander." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now which was all perfectly true. either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "And who is her maid?" rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards "Look there!" said he. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at had formerly been in part my own. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and fled together." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a peculiar to him. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. one's self under obligations.' WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of is entirely a question of barometric pressure." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included corner of the building. trifles." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the to take care of herself." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "It may not come to that," said Holmes. it." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of felt the room to be a little close.' "Here?" his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should examine." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his up this clue while it is still hot." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "You will not go there first?" access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case is worth.' think that he is innocent?" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "But to whom?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless meanly of me." "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left call you and give you the chance."