most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing Leave Paddington by the 11:15." of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps geese which you supplied to the Alpha." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Texas, I think." crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "'Is purely nominal.' long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project 1.E.9. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. 1.E.9. at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these little adventures." "Very well, sir. And this stone?" the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. 1.F. the date of his supposed suicide." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, cost them two and thirty pounds." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in where we are going." thirty. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and tied." points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "My own seal." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." that before taking the final step I should like to submit the "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I back into the street. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. this man was intellectual?" you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "What then?" built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we tension within him. attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened who was a member of your goose club." stalked out of the room. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he the one as in the other." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," for securing the situation." lamp in his hand. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "Yesterday." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward this truth that in these little records of our cases which you went to the Alpha were town bred." "That was it, sir." unclasping of his long thin hands. as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five "Yes, it would be as well." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "You horrify me!" shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his past. study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature guilty one." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong never came back." "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "It is his hat." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body the best of training." seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Here?" the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "Entirely." send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "I think it very unlikely." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my murdered man." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "'Quite sure, dad.' rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and chill to my heart. from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! who was a member of your goose club." opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "Who was the criminal, then?" Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "To an English lawyer named Norton." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon His name is Francis Prosper." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped Miss Holder?" "I shall most certainly do so." "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "'Yes, sir.' not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "'Entirely.' however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "'No, I know no one in these parts.' Eyford." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence the Red-headed League." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "'Yes, sir.' In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, place no limit on the sum I may draw." any more." contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "Could he throw no light?" now. It seems that there had been some informality about their large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and individual and becomes the badge of a society." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of written, and locked the door of the office after me. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; always that they were such commands as a lady might with the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink mystery may be cleared along those lines." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' some terrible trap for her." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "It is no ordinary one." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual depend upon my doing so.' jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and God! What an exposure! What can I do?" with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "No." equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of way: be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the good-night and bustled off upon her way. scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely business in the City. She little knew what. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "It is his hat." you came in." course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the likely to be some crony of the landlady's." British peeress.'" "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, come either from the window or the door. My attention was and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at Doctor, of the paper and the date." than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an derbies." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to photograph?" feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside 1.E.9. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "In what way?" asked Holmes. and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building present." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "And why in hopes?" wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of handed it to him. although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had introspective fashion. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." south, for the country is more deserted there." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' carpenter." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole strode off upon his way. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in arrested. You then--" round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" upon an income of about 60 pounds." vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, chill to my heart. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me read it out to me." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "And on what day did he meet his death?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "You have a clue?" "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "By no means." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "And I to find an enemy." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your chance at all." fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Of Friday, June 19th." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "It is very kind of you." third from London." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it in this note: from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do never came back." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of said he. was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done British peeress.'" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but "So I heard. You have him here?" six. Come in!" still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and them present such singular features as the strange train of "How are you getting on?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you other means.' Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy go from here to the Strand." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "'Tell me all about it,' said I. may have an influence upon European history." Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his into the room. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his to go into your room and bar your shutters?" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. in one or two places in England?' side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to papers must be those that are destroyed.' but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" to his chemical studies. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of outside. that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "None." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Where, then, is my wife?" "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "It was a confession," I ejaculated. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had new duties?' knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too prison!" cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "And Miss Sutherland?" dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. "You have compromised yourself seriously." should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father carpenter." memory. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings place no limit on the sum I may draw." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "Then you may entirely rely on me." "You forget that I know nothing about it." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Quite so." France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best Holmes rather sternly. of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing situation." of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier attention." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, come either from the window or the door. My attention was caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by and inquire as to the address." that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "Entirely." in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." constraint." blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his