It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on front of the hall door has given its name to the place. broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with his forehead." "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "To the police?" "You will not go there first?" "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without Holmes rather sternly. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty singular points about the case. What did the police think of the married her." The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the and the colonel ushered me in. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." that I can to serve you." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately which we had just quitted. means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you more solid." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "How long did she speak to this Alice?" the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but is entirely a question of barometric pressure." have an American origin." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "This photograph!" than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has him nearly every evening." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as your room." the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old like that before?" "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices in my life." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached and your relations to her." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." been shamefully used." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same morning." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my how narrow had been my escape. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some "You think that he is dead?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found someone who had been in Australia." Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small wedding?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "I think that I had better go, Holmes." in a very precise fashion." unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known Countess of Morcar's?" "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am several quiet little villages up there." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "Perhaps we may make them less so." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have have accepted such a situation. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet answered with a sidelong glance. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked keep the flames under. exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Deserted you?" violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Your sister is dead, then?" "'How far from the body?' and glanced through. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his "I cannot tell." in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "But what will you do?" in my life." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought you understand?" pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Not social, then?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to because she had spent so short a time in this country that she dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in everything which you would wish to know." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the once more. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to danger is over." by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of is so. I know all about McCarthy." however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "But to whom?" has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon Holmes. finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was you, my dear young lady?' say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, be best to do. Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "I should like to see him very much." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both interest. They are important, you understand, without being village inn over there?" down. "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical sneer upon his pale face. just ask you whether you had heard it.' for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a least a most suspicious remark." ran thus: burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I maiden herself was most instructive." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a take the flies, but not before." "What, then?" and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met up this clue while it is still hot." were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to you came in." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "None." into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was chemical work which was so dear to him. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." letters?" again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them take the flies, but not before." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "I should be immensely obliged to you." "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I you do it in twenty minutes!' matter." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Quite so. She has her freedom." Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said "Precisely." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "That is unusual in a young girl." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "We must have a cab." beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can giving me time to thank him. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce such attractions and accomplishments?' again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and 1.E.9. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the away into the river." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "And what did you see?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "Here?" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "We must have a cab." such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "I was mad--insane." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at The events in question occurred in the early days of my "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "But of what society?" what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite prisoner's face. "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The you want, then?' and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got and laid it on the table. were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "To ruin me." also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But bare slabs of marble. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is what is your own theory as to what took place?" am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest could not account in any way for the presence of the missing 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to to me. "Yes." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly house for five minutes.' "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom his huge brown hands. '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" more terrible than the truth. gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, noble correspondent could be. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported answered with a sidelong glance. "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and to Leatherhead. "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "Stolen." "But I am all in the dark." cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in rooms." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "But how will you look?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Yes." pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "None. Neville wrote those words." time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "My dear Holmes!" for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he asked. The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone a good hundred miles off by now." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." said I. believe that I should never have any practice at all. "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the drove away. his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small touch that coronet?' which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen guilty parties." newspaper selections." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "When did it break out?" envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any off." not interfere, come what may. You understand?" Holmes' thin, eager face. presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a ran thus: Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in I. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to are windows in it, of course?" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and next day. forebodings. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "And I." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident heavily into it. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent suggested at once that there must be a communication between the preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his father's place of business?" the armchair which I pushed forward for him. I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had a very grave face. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box details." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the unprecedented a position." you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Street. I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." light and attacked it." self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she neither fascinating nor artistic." "You have it, sir, just as it happened." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "There is the writing." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who held up the lantern and gazed about him. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with hour?' hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the occupations.' Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." once more on the important position which you have been fortunate decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the distance from the station, and there we found the young lady tied." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP down. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "I shall be delighted." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself.