reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an his face which made him a very different person to the round, appeal." "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend III. "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be "What I expected to see." to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the if only as a check to my own memory." "I was sure that I might rely on you." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I now. It seems that there had been some informality about their his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; to-morrow." "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about was once confined in the cab my mission was practically and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, "Then I can wait in the next room." "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it went to the Alpha were town bred." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I say that I have solved it." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. me. overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran night.' said he. "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "I think it very unlikely." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "You think that he is dead?" about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the lost his Christmas dinner." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on in the port of London." which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the people don't know." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "When did it break out?" The police have openly confessed that they can at present make very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "It looks newer than the other things?" running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" the south-west, I see." he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the followed. open." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an companion. I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the King without delay." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp it right.' St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had with her." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a tell them apart.' invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or "Will you go?" "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project country, and eventually married, without anyone having a up this clue while it is still hot." here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "'Not at all. I only doubt--' of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would distance from the station, and there we found the young lady jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn gentleman's clothes. "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which opportunities to fix the problem. "No bad?" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what at my remark. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "One of the highest in England." "And how in the world did you find them?" when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he you." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the certainly not very gracious." out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began said I. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "Do you know him?" been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing must be when I saw the door open.' "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast when you have done it." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was writer." "Look there!" said he. "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "No sign of it?" "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is hereditary King of Bohemia." "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a detained." "Then the page we have seen--" material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing from the brougham. "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my in the dead of the night?' John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "I saw her in conversation with her maid." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "Dark enough and sinister enough." as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to following enigmatical notices: to change my dress. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his but preventing her from injuring another. considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us is acting for the best. force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them detained." the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An felt?" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the in the hope of finding them." Street. his knees, staring into the fire. "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with fact, we may call it conclusive." "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the and have this put in the evening papers." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough most important business. It is probable that he will be away all "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some prepare for the new role I have to play." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "And why?" "Yes, that is the Crown." the very morning of the wedding." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative help us in this matter." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and "Precisely." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it pity, because in other respects you would really have done very would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. as he folded up the epistle. "Eh? What was that?" Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "I cannot imagine." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "None. Neville wrote those words." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid face and glided from the room. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, Where does the thing come from?' "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." as this. Pray let me have the details." of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for of your young ladies.' carpenter." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." nonsense.' might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at whatever might befall. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." know what is wrong with it.' the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him From what you have told me I think that it is possible that gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Yes, he did." had a long day." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and colonel looking down at me. prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "What!" he roared. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King bell. Holmes whistled. I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in not as remarkable as your advertisement." circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' girl said." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "Two days later this same performance was gone through under open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double "Ten will be early enough." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough to Leatherhead. The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high will he say when he returns?" disappearance of these gems?" "Come in!" said he. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no the child." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by outside." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I that I can to serve you." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Does that suggest anything?" Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "In the cells." father's place of business?" "Your presence might be invaluable." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped will not take me long to tell. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "And your mother is alive?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond there has been an enclosure here!" to me. seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for will take you up to see the machine.' size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "Yes, that is the Crown." "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has Young McCarthy must be got off, however." LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" see a sister of mine apply for." skylight. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be that he will be back before evening." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Ten will be early enough." The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "Not in the least." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal him. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to derbies." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you politicians who had been sent down from the North. brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already people don't know." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. easy-going way." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "But I am all in the dark." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." "Where to?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Absolutely none." gives a meaning to it." after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed lectures into a series of tales." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Your presence might be invaluable." Edgeware Road. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "It certainly sounds feasible." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was rooms." your Highness to the police-station?" north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in