through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have maiden herself was most instructive." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer affair. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "It is possible." "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the where we are going." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. six. Come in!" either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin are, I think, all that we need." "Very much so." it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Was he the only applicant?" of the vacancies.' 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not was lame." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "But to whom?" have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may letters?" against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "Only as much as we can deduce." about. papers diligently of late, have you not?" made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" few hundred pounds.' anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to I have it here in my museum." purpose of examination. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your conclusions. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "What do you mean?" following enigmatical notices: accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few presented more singular features than that which was associated collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed information in his hands the value of which he did not himself certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an daring than any effort of the imagination." was already answered. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive house for five minutes.' agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" the loss of it. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with weigh very heavily upon my conscience." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then light and attacked it." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I "I have solved it." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not one's self under obligations.' "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings acquaintance?" James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about generous with you in money matters.' lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or gigantic client. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called know all about it," he snarled. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." forehead. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand was not a bird to be seen there. "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me know that the truth is known." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while criminal. We have already had experience of such." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. events, Mr. Windibank!" "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was the tragedy. but preventing her from injuring another. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "I should be immensely obliged to you." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in if only as a check to my own memory." "Then what has happened to him?" I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he speckled band?" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No you." house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, train.' seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "Do you receive much company?" he asked. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any fish-monger and a tide-waiter." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever "But you were on a friendly footing?" "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "None. Neville wrote those words." character. "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of off." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "'How far from the body?' DISSOLVED. enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds your co-operation." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view very peculiar words of the dying woman?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't behind me. at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything astonishment. the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business lamp in his hand. "A client, then?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that upon the white wrist. the coroner come to?" brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "You horrify me!" light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, strength." quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "And leave your case unfinished?" freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." ran thus: nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by pound a week." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, examination of the premises, but without finding anything which branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the may have an influence upon European history." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to My friend smiled. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew on in his house." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. was a loud and authoritative tap. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, fatally injured? to a light-house. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Was he the only applicant?" home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." someone who had been in Australia." key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he public press." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "I guessed as much." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "What! Had he lost his wife?" "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. Stoke Moran." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too again on its way. methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this I held the little printed slip to the light. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "What!" he roared. done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "What have you done?" asked Holmes. it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "I am all attention, madam." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "Yes. He waved his hands." Holmes' face clouded over. "Stoke Moran?" said he. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City in this note: propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Precisely." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, standing smiling on the door-step. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my a very grave face. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I best detective that ever lived. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, there is a decided draught." so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been think you a quite exceptional woman." little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum than to us. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person question you as to those details which seem to me to be most dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to too. "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of "It is half-past ten now." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective guilty parties." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in about here speaks of his kindness to him." with some details as to your case." had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Never." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such yourselves in at night?" his face. "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon look upon these things in a different way." centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back are, and they are waiting for us." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "Certainly, madam." "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new will not take me long to tell. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the must be when I saw the door open.' my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "Yes." is," said he presently: "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly one or two very singular points about this room. For example, cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin there." It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the what do you think they found in the pockets?" succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "I think that it is very probable." find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "But the mystery?" front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the to surprise her." Gutenberg-tm License. afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "That is easily got." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Her father is very rich?" Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Not I." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a disappearance of these gems?" Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Her father is very rich?" fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they "Will you go?" you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that examine." "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker dramatic, in fact." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon new acquaintance to Baker Street. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very late!' window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at ventilator." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather breakfast?" of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "But the mystery?" the address that was given us in the advertisement. during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "On the contrary, this is the right side." money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I