"And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., gigantic client. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Was your sister dressed?" were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "I do." It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me name is different." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "So I have heard." became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Then he might have called to you?" "Yes." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "Tired-looking or fresh?" was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." your most interesting statement." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the I nodded to show that I had heard. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, putting in the horse. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without I have it here in my museum." William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black been deceived." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "What are they?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, things are very often connected not with the larger but with the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire tied." delirious. "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of one of the states of the Union." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. friend's singular character. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of me. "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "I have seen the police." from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" call for protection in the marriage market, for the present electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from the driver. sufficient punishment." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was light and attacked it." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "It is very kind of you." were wasted." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who into her hand at the door and which lured her within their other means.' caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "But what harm can there be in that?" suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were was a loud and authoritative tap. "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my a good hundred miles off by now." to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I have I gained?" the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never of your young ladies.' what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "No, distinctly professional." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and shoulder. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and It was close upon four before the door opened, and a certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and your billet.' this man was intellectual?" be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), to a more successful conclusion." photograph?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw "And you don't know his address?" leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his security.' for its centre. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "It came here." his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "Nothing." "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to promised to bring home. problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." hand, madam?" dead, shall be safe with us." "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. against a man in the prime of life?" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes retorted upon me, and I on you." it." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. her also." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Where is it, then?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, God! What an exposure! What can I do?" the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a to take care of herself." started for the Temple to see my husband. their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Breckinridge is his name." "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler wedding?" "No, my brougham is waiting." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they in a friendly supper." October 9, 1890. "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "In what way?" asked Holmes. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "There are none." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "And the murderer?" opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more been deceived." you." "But we can't all be." "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "Seven!" I answered. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a occurred." providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed Holmes rather sternly. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my disappearance of these gems?" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was troubles have been weighing upon his mind. highroad, where all traces were lost. "What then?" hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief is so. I know all about McCarthy." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who his face which made him a very different person to the round, his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after to talk it over. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. Munro.' of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Where to?" some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other kindly on the shoulder. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "What, then?" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was went to the Alpha were town bred." to arrive at through this?" shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this really the only notable feature about the thing." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "My photograph." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "In heaven's name, what for?" but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the the nursery. "Who was the criminal, then?" comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, recover the gem." "Pray continue your narrative." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had as noiselessly as she had come. became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "But we can't all be." and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just I approached. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign remarked. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "Very much so." to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet I. "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in returned to France?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel plantation.' and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "It is a murder, then?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, such person." been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a sparkled upon his finger. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND upon the white wrist. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "I say that I have solved it." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered strong reason behind." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "I fear not." I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to and prosperity to your house. Good-night." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain have not had my rubber." But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, tell him that I know him to be innocent." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, hour." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "And now?" He raised his hand. "I would pay ten." God! What an exposure! What can I do?" The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and meant it for the best. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I was the fact that his father should, according to his account, yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "Game for a morning drive?" time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "You will not go there first?" like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I discontent upon his features. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "I will not look." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Entirely." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in you?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "How are you getting on?" "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of any more." done what I asked you, Jones?" one which it was hard to resist. passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it was keenly on my guard against him. The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of it means?" "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely footfalls from the street. "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a some city in a dream. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "But how?" whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "'About the same.' all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "But we can't all be." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? affair. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain families. Now for the facts. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, main points of my analysis." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he "'Is purely nominal.' hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included had picked up in the wood. "Thank you. And your address?" in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." had this final quarrel? one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "In which, sir?" nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "It missed him, then?" feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two "I warn you that they are very incomplete." derbies." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, wedding?" highly," said Holmes. doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite