"It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to me where it went to?" of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS other means.' "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I breakfast and whispered something to her husband. purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the the ceiling. sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "I will not look." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and an introduction to him?" impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I me. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "And that is--" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss most interesting one." "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "'What are you doing there?' he asked. the running down." have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second humiliation." horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he entirely lost his self-respect." "ARAT," I read. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "Never." behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short said he. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Very much so." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. interested in these little problems, and since you are good as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or man. "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. down from London to inquire more deeply into it." When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We wanted for ourselves." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "Imitated." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Precisely." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. seem to you to be relevant or not." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a "But his left-handedness." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' suspect him." said I. rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the strength in the others." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter "How did that help you?" room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to indeed happy." showing my impatience. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the me where it went to?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might your only hope of safety." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client criminal. We have already had experience of such." what do you think they found in the pockets?" gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help very peculiar words of the dying woman?" wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Because he was handy and would come cheap." pity, because in other respects you would really have done very business?" Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one already referred to. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "He might." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a them?" cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "And how have you succeeded?" it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. at once, for I have only half an hour." "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting the tragedy. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "I shall most certainly do so." out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "No, I am descending." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried down. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed who was a member of your goose club." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, some mystery and the punishment of some crime." crime." satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to subject to the trademark license, especially commercial eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses "I came to find a friend." a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the sneer upon his pale face. freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a had no one to advise her at such a crisis." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "But what harm can there be in that?" informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I American. Then who could this American be, and why should he door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and most interesting one." a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH do you make of it all?" postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "What do you make of that, Watson?" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely strong and stiff." "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and there in twenty minutes." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is strength of mind to control. writers could invent nothing more crude." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I "What then?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. stepfather?" in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had maid will bring up your coffee." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my tapping his fingers upon the table. another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy the tragedy. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and giving me time to thank him. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "That sounds a little paradoxical." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "On your arm?" "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Of what?" answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "Ha! you find it so?" were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and and a shock of very red hair. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old crowd. "Not in a good cause." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the "Yes, certainly." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our crackling voice. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "Yes." "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to emerged. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "I never have." of them has the shutters up.' to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. in the dead of the night?' "At the wedding breakfast." effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "Nearly eleven." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are keep the flames under. as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have is worth.' returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or sentimental considerations in the background which would induce perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" once more. "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and closing the door. brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those will be renamed. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue to-morrow." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "It goes to the housekeeper's room." state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young green of the new foliage. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace have I gained?" already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he this as likely?" and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should key turn in the lock." perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "But she will refuse." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his Edgeware Road. disturbance in my wife." interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "It certainly sounds feasible." just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Then the page we have seen--" contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "Then I shall certainly come." window when the police appeared." figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Will you go?" unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "'Tell me all about it,' said I. to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe have accepted such a situation. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "My own seal." to affect your life." "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "It is true that I have been generally successful." said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Stoke Moran." my friend's incisive reasoning. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by absorbing." "And why?" habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "And how have you succeeded?" of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the King without delay." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to information in his hands the value of which he did not himself the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "Not I." such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "It surprised me." whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. danger is over." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout you?' which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "That sounds a little paradoxical." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy as this. Pray let me have the details." "You saw the ventilator, too?" subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an