confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "None." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the his huge brown hands. Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "'Certainly,' I answered. looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all Sutherland. brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your matter." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman foresight and the moral retrogression?" remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "Precisely." "I will not look." staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my know all about it," he snarled. "'Very good.' and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless appeared upon the scene." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "And what then?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms pierced for earrings?" "We were both in the photograph." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my opportunities to fix the problem. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and must be when I saw the door open.' reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a of this gang." will be renamed. relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly of this gang." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." hurried away. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have from the brougham. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a least a most suspicious remark." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay bonnet, and went out." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was shoulder; "he's all right." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "BALLARAT." as the one I chose?' together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "I am to be neutral?" "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be he died? "No." death." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having appeared upon the scene." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I to-night?" I asked. stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "'I have already given you my word.' lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, the devil!" which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows read it out to me." "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? friends, not even his own brother. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Pray tell us what has happened to you." appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with she has been waylaid. There has been no result." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "Won't it ring?" from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can bachelor.' me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "Quite so." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him "'You doubt its value?' he asked. any more." following enigmatical notices: "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Thank you. Pray proceed." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "Awake, Watson?" he asked. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any that you wished to speak to me?' the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "I cannot as yet see any connection." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. thought that she would have been so carried away." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be union?" and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you this Miss Turner." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly face and glided from the room. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found weapon." "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "I cannot tell." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his giving me time to thank him. Sholtos." number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "I see many objections to any such theory." "And how have you succeeded?" reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal business?" some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Literary Archive Foundation took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was might help us?" style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have whether it answered to the description of any of their Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "How about poison?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. minor matters until to-morrow." opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. that, and I came down." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the your bag." "But how will you look?" you." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, instincts rose up against that laugh. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. may have an influence upon European history." the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the again on its way. moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Yes, only one." results." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that works. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small she might be summoned. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman me. You must get home instantly and act." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the despair." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "My dear Holmes!" which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Street. forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he Gutenberg-tm License. out of this horrible affair." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with You want to know what became of those geese?" where we are going." "A confidential servant?" pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His and the church but not where the lady lived." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. to some other building. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide six. Come in!" village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." chambers. Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "But it has twice been burgled." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "And from a noble client?" autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a I took the paper from him and read as follows: or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "I cannot tell." watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call Foundation into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was "Precisely." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any said I. "Yes. He waved his hands." Eyford at 11:15.' sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "A greater distance to travel." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is back into the street. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "Yes?" not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned individual and becomes the badge of a society." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who you want, then?' "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and was a perfect sample of the class. depend upon your compliance." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his the running down." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Not in a good cause." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he For additional contact information: logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "What can it mean?" I gasped. "Yes, but only for you and me." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have house for five minutes.' village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to ventilator." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these so.' "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and outbreak?" in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was business?" heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her This is what he says: has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a acted in my house last night?" "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "But what is it you wish?" evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been "Yes. He waved his hands." such attractions and accomplishments?' 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera undoubtedly my uncle's." was it brought him the coronet? "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to should be taken.' do you make of it all?" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND my special province." "It is a murder, then?" o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could walking." having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Indeed! Whose, then?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my You want to know what became of those geese?" observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "Yes, from Horsham." looking up at the numbers of the houses." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "Never." and glanced through. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two hurried by. pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable most interesting one." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a into the room. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion should be so warm over such a trifle." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At the Assizes." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. indiscretion." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "You'll never persuade me to believe that." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of within hail.' his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin cheerful." could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, never to learn it at all." for securing the situation." "Yes, certainly." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless trifles." "And I say east," said my patient. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "So I heard. You have him here?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "Murdered?" Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child