vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about had formerly been in part my own. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it pity, because in other respects you would really have done very was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "Dr. Becher's." beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without be there in time for your coming." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the breakfast." "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as "That also I could fathom." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the think that he is innocent?" lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "Seven!" I answered. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "In the cells." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. himself to hunt down. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "'In my own bureau.' for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking It was close upon four before the door opened, and a face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the in a friendly supper." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by "It goes to the housekeeper's room." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending three of the beryls in it, was missing. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the she to prove their authenticity?" France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, way in everything. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by imbecility!" he cried. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. back alive. "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which straightened it out again. baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into was a perfect sample of the class. absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their you." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his returning from some small jollification and was making his way "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to mystery." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you be best to do. you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, During two years I have had three consultations and one small was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "And how did he make his money?" station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with "'Is purely nominal.' "Nor running a chance of arrest?" and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a is four-and-twenty." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he about. ago." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "Precisely so. But how--" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' particular state visit http://pglaf.org drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was been shamefully used." That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "Stolen." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out orange pips. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering rat could hardly pass through." "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. observed. money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Nothing." "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle of your young ladies.' ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "'A dozen yards or so.' following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in legal crime." told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face brain must have something in it." paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I present." ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "And now?" I asked. would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears to surprise her." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "Certainly." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "In heaven's name, what for?" "I think it very unlikely." job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner down. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot to-night?' the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence for the market.' too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went you." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what astonishment. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our and that he would see to anything that turned up. to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "I have my revolver," said I. you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Very. But will he see it?" far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he time." "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "Yes, sir." "Was there a secret marriage?" 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me newspaper selections." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, this poor creature." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the have had none more fantastic than this." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and wanted for ourselves." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. crackling voice. the coronet at all injured?" address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and cup of tea. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the writers could invent nothing more crude." money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "The Cedars?" an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and McCarthy's innocence. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. breakfast." downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. fait accompli?" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so gigantic client. "And now?" I asked. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "I was sure that I might rely on you." "This concluded the examination of the witness." followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical name is different." and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed I shall continue with my miserable story. "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters views." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of absolutely follow my advice in every respect." could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had she used." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had whereabouts. finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "I am about to be married." subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his was once confined in the cab my mission was practically those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." you?' I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' room?" in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. entirely devoid of interest." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled "No." "How can you tell that?" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." leave you to your papers for a little." "The rest you will leave in our hands." little trying to do so much typewriting?" the devil!" burst into a hearty fit of laughter. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she six. Come in!" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most himself in a perplexing position. go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through instituted." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side appeared upon the scene." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a with you?" but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a States. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three hardly wander." to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her how narrow had been my escape. "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. intrusion of other matters." he bowed and left the room without another word. everything which you would wish to know." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very "Yes, from Horsham." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "I cannot tell." "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as writing, and yet I know it well." threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "What can you not understand?" elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "But you would not advise me to refuse?" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his "'Yes, sir.' "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we believe that I should never have any practice at all. "That is easily got." to-night?' a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in quickly through a disagreeable task. "None." to miss it." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking despaired of." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in do you make of it all?" "Where, indeed?" at once, for I have only half an hour." Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of forebodings. the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "This photograph!" if only as a check to my own memory." "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "By train from Waterloo." shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "I shall most certainly do so." closely." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less himself. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle there is a decided draught." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project frequently gained my first real insight into the character of All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "How do you know, then?" man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I gigantic client. Pool. "It looks newer than the other things?" "In answer to an advertisement." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' despaired of." "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big now. It seems that there had been some informality about their sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Certainly." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining cigars in the box." vanished into the darkness. violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "'I shall certainly be there.' your Highness to the police-station?" His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE maid will bring up your coffee." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "You saw the ventilator, too?" coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you this poor creature." "Your presence might be invaluable." he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" one's self under obligations.' tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Very murderous indeed." closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." thirty. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. "What are they?" had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a intimate personal affairs in this public manner." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to key of the affair now." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "Murdered?" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion."