and capable of preserving a secret.' national property. I was determined that the law should have its make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Then I shall certainly come." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to crime." him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I have solved it." Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a window when the police appeared." He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to was not a bird to be seen there. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." face and glided from the room. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we little trying to do so much typewriting?" the very letters. But what is this written above them?' an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough fat-encircled eyes. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" distinguish the words: whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would walking." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern affection." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Texas, I think." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small is four-and-twenty." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a Holmes' face clouded over. good for you to do.' words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong Pope's Court, Fleet Street." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in these bleak autumnal evenings." really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he rooms." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a wedding?" "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much long narrative. us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "That also I could fathom." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I carriage. It was a chestnut." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I murdered man." Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which second." writer." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or me have 200 pounds?' "'In my own bureau.' without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the think that he is innocent?" "That was it, sir." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "Where did he live, then?" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "Have you her photograph?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I 1.F. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Yes, from Horsham." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before character. at home. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "This photograph!" and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a McCarthy." the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "My stepfather's business papers." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "She told me to ask you." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest business at Coburg Square is serious." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one and prosperity to your house. Good-night." of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." of Fenchurch Street." receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his success. congenial hunt. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary introspective fashion. him nearly every evening." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the will not take me long to tell. could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should you?' could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of was the fact that his father should, according to his account, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it the one as in the other." dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Do you know him?" lamp in his hand. ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "But she will refuse." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from o'clock is it?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was beg that you will break it off." "'Where could I find him?' six. Come in!" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say results." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the so.' "Never." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get I was concerned in it." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was himself to hunt down. his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce been shamefully used." status with the IRS. you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between cigars in their mouths. Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all like that before?" mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the Does that suggest anything?" moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had think, you have already met." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to like gravel from a pit.' started for the Temple to see my husband. had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Yes, it would be as well." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." followed. "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called "Then you may be so with me." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this bird of prey. License. You must require such a user to return or "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything Count Von Kramm." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the closing the door. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban it. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of bears upon the case?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" a good hundred miles off by now." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "The murder was done with it." The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her been able to understand it, in a very few words. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Doctor, of the paper and the date." "Why, it's a dummy," said he. third from London." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two him and tried to hold him back. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, the very letters. But what is this written above them?' and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "That is also quite modern," said the lady. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "So I heard. You have him here?" very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, dramatic, in fact." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they in his hands." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A "That is easily got." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I of the one which your family is now devouring." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered charged with?" princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow his face. some city in a dream. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a yet." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "He said too much." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father and looked back. volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens individual and becomes the badge of a society." face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in just ask you whether you had heard it.' "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There his face. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, "He is still with you, I presume?" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "Witness: It was. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are call the police, let the police find what they can.' front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden is," said he presently: hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. felt?" "It is half-past ten now." of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat is acting for the best. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a me." white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Whose house is it?" skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting shoulder. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's it? Did I buy the geese off you?" consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Where is it, then?" grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before McCarthy's innocence. "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here the south-west, I see." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my "It is very kind of you." very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your rat could hardly pass through." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Where, indeed?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of occurred." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return hands. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets miles off. XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made said he. flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage derbies." "And the murderer?" have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "The rest you will leave in our hands." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. enter Dr. Roylott's room." which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "'Ample.' and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from man. I know him from the photograph." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "My dear Holmes!" had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, furiously. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most that there was nothing in it, after all." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it garden below. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless was a loud and authoritative tap. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "A greater distance to travel." presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the bell. Holmes whistled. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and morning." such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the call for it in person on Monday morning.' footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip matter." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us it." Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord fat-encircled eyes. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried heavy and sharp instrument." closely." living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy "My dear Holmes!" compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so least a most suspicious remark." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "You were travelling in the States?" this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as matter." they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here room?" Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for time." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? him!" hand, madam?" Heh?' quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland sentimental considerations in the background which would induce See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three