interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the upon an income of about 60 pounds." "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. imbecility!" he cried. bears upon the case?" is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect there has been an enclosure here!" rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "Stolen." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get murdered man." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, remarked. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "My dear Holmes!" said I. met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now light and attacked it." will not take me long to tell. his huge brown hands. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," in the port of London." succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. allusion to a rat. door?" out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "No good news?" shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not all-comprehensive glances. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "I cannot imagine." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "I came to find a friend." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the business." red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed weary and pale-looking. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out off." he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take kind enough to tell me what I should do." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have he. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which of your young ladies.' IS Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler Have you good authority for what you say?" cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always any." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' anything to a woman, for she would have her way." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to at once, for I have only half an hour." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal throat." "I say it is." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and to-night's adventure." some water from a caraffe. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' definite end. have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may sound at heart." "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and said I. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Miss Holder?" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. shoulder. him. because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they him. "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked III. "'Yes, sir.' tail." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as went to the Alpha were town bred." residence of the great financier. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Where does the thing come from?' headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him It may be so in this case, also." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Was the window open?" "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "If I can be of use." the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is breakfast?" "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to green of the new foliage. glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point had formerly been in part my own. overpowering excitement and concern. occupations.' our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at showing my impatience. blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a carriage. It was a chestnut." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of ready to-morrow?' view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "Which are?" sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Pray be precise as to details," said he. over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of said I. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair throat." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "No. What a strange idea!" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look use an arc-and-compass breastpin." with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally crowd. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "Ah!" and effective." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "In what way?" asked Holmes. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the whereabouts. "We have tried and failed." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on better grown goose." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "You are hungry," I remarked. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating to arrive at through this?" How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a go back?" I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "But what will you do?" leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be interests were the same as his." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter But Holmes shook his head gravely. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and "Who by?" "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "You are certainly joking, Holmes." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," is," said he presently: "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a back to my heart. building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and could not account in any way for the presence of the missing on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "How did you deduce the select?" "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." papers." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or "Not in the least." yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked she used." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, how narrow had been my escape. never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." absorbing." following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. the King without delay." http://www.gutenberg.net sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my tell me that you intended to go into harness." ourselves in the office." "Her father is very rich?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as very morning of my second wedding." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an will he say when he returns?" dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. beyond words. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ sooner or later she must fall a victim. evidence," I remarked. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small opened the door, and slipped through. those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my and glanced through. "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "By no means." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "'What are you doing there?' he asked. delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the "I would give my fortune to have them back." law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Not him." "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and "Who was the criminal, then?" make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning burst out into a roar of laughter. down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public better grown goose." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining more solid." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be "'In my own bureau.' at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and once more for Briony Lodge. "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned about here speaks of his kindness to him." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out Foundation the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "Certainly." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "'Certainly not.' certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He so far?" encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "To the police?" said he. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, of a light. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed the so-precious time, but come!' after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be "You horrify me!" used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so weigh very heavily upon my conscience." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no "'I am sure that I do not know.' the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my formed some opinion?" "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and if only as a check to my own memory." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "You horrify me." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically shag which I had seen upon the previous night. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I her also." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, useful material for showing traces. The double line a little alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was problems help me to do so." read over the extraordinary announcement. not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a Watson," he said cordially. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping colonel looking down at me. you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit some city in a dream. "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "How about poison?" which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the matter." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too weighed down with some great anxiety. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to a few minutes he said that it would be all right. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the British peeress.'" servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if arrested. You then--" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it little trying to do so much typewriting?" it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of chance." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would him to be an active member of the medical profession." faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "If so, much may have happened between." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. fashion which was peculiar to him. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "A thing like a cleaver," said he. Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "You are all wrong." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "But we can't all be." his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which "Dirty?" my former friend and companion. "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "10th. John Swain cleared. approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. Does that suggest anything?" "Not yet." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "I was sure that I might rely on you." 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Where to?" it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been