Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." was feeling which was the fattest.' 1.F. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of "Whose house is it?" would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "Why? What do you mean?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, matters immensely." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There developed." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves which we had just quitted. "I will do it." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "I cannot as yet see any connection." "Thank you. And your address?" possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you and shall probably return to London by the evening train." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the date of his supposed suicide." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' morning." beyond words. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," be. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "Breckinridge is his name." sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I shaken than I had ever seen him. saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "How did you trace it, then?" search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean points to suicide?" order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss would apply.' play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Where did he live, then?" view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the pity, because in other respects you would really have done very very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two there in twenty minutes." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most clang of the bell. do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old new duties?' running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position have had none more fantastic than this." occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must I think that I could be of assistance to you." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Why? What do you mean?" pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular like that before?" have an American origin." "Was your sister dressed?" "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have silent! Oh, he will be silent!' safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming down in his armchair and closing his eyes. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin excitement. "You will not go there first?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His unprecedented a position." "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "And you can do nothing until then?" Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves "Why, it's a dummy," said he. by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would crackling voice. lost nothing by them." "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and evidence," I remarked. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the standing smiling on the door-step. "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Pope's Court. Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand maid will bring up your coffee." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper The police have openly confessed that they can at present make routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "On Monday." "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Ah, but I was recommended to you." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I the matter?" dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' me." wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "'Why that?' I asks. bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "I have a cab outside." pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "Your French gold?" "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so which it had come upon my father." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and where we are going." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "Then how many are there?" the roots. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in will take you up to see the machine.' little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "BALLARAT." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside ordinary clothes on?" "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been From what you have told me I think that it is possible that inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the walking." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the derbies." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a meant." public press." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He that you can jump it.' "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "I have solved it." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon tail." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been strength in the others." elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "What! You do not mean bodies?" without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "'How far from the body?' a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case stalked out of the room. firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you of them has the shutters up.' safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "How did you deduce the select?" Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and results." in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. http://www.gutenberg.net violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." the stable lane now." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "'Certainly not. But why?' remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all here." scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very have had none more fantastic than this." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a it with his own hands." "Were they all fastened this morning?" "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from sound at heart." I shall continue with my miserable story. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "Just look it up, then." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving into her hand at the door and which lured her within their amused." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately ran thus: train.' like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his me, and I could not think that his explanation of the corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already seen the man in the road." India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little disappearance of the bride.'" Does that suggest anything?" "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round gone before you can get him to hospital." "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the floor. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had geese which you supplied to the Alpha." most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we have not had my rubber." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called article?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "And that is--" brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Nor running a chance of arrest?" their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that carriage. It was a chestnut." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. bore every mark of being an average commonplace British 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "My stepfather's business papers." digesting their breakfasts at home." you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little you for a few hours?" am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and conclusions. stalked out of the room. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "From his hat?" second." through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an definite end. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the it. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor "And on what day did he meet his death?" conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Will you bet, then?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are call you and give you the chance." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a became a certainty. not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the few hundred pounds.' "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I was feeling which was the fattest.' "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, a good hundred miles off by now." "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and evidence," I remarked. the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "Do you know him?" double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Very. But will he see it?" maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "That is unusual in a young girl." appeared upon the scene." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "And now?" I asked. interests were the same as his." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without second." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "Where, then?" remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "What shall I do?" say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my that he will be back before evening." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, pictures, libraries, or plate. They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she mysterious end." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it them?" "We have tried and failed." down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon was a perfect sample of the class. hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted away in different directions, and I went off to make my own village inn over there?" "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the devil!" jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "On your arm?" "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." strength of mind to control. man. I know him from the photograph." guilty parties." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Where, then?" family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "Only as much as we can deduce." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning without a word or a look. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "And is that all?" were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the appeared upon the scene." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they entirely devoid of interest." "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, my secret was safe in his possession. "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "Dirty?" his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an you, my dear young lady?' presented more singular features than that which was associated her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "The murder was done with it." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed never will be, entirely cleared up. both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a to-night?' the best of training." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?"