hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their the date of his supposed suicide." tension within him. "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. spark where all is dark to me." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "Entirely." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Then I shall certainly come." themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San do.' devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "'Stolen!' he cried. people in all walks of life. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger "What, then?" "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door I held the little printed slip to the light. therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a instincts rose up against that laugh. view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "I think that it is very probable." appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you his grey eyes. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Not in the least." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in II. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, over here." performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. I shall continue with my miserable story. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a carpenter." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by his eyes and forehead. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made at my remark. the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "What have you to say now?" "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the good-night and bustled off upon her way. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my views." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled laugh and put his lips to my ear. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the never to learn it at all." eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of you?' "The knees of his trousers." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "'Where could I find him?' nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. me where it went to?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a answer." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the The note was undated, and without either signature or address. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy directors, with the result that you have seen." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to unprofitable." into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." more terrible than the truth. always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Do you go out much in society?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "Very much so." "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life even of instruction." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "At the wedding breakfast." from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "It is true that I have been generally successful." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a Lee, in the county of Kent." results." "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the question," said Holmes, smiling. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Bought." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands me, and I could not think that his explanation of the way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter you found me to-night--and running through the front room she copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how unprofitable." expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler fled together." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to "'And the work?' who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "I cannot imagine." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As passage and a tap at the door. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each corner of the building. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and have been better. It is all right." The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand maiden herself was most instructive." "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a considering the formidable letters which were received by himself and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but there." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Yes." there in twenty minutes." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able second window is the one that I jumped from." the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "None." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "But his lameness?" ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt one else, I think." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "In the cells." as noiselessly as she had come. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man and laid it on the table. remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the breakfast and whispered something to her husband. "Not yet." "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant was it brought him the coronet? ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "Yes." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler is entirely a question of barometric pressure." the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a dates and names. first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it young Openshaw's." "That's no good." nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that think you a quite exceptional woman." "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "It missed him, then?" this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It carpenter." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I voice, changing her seat as requested. "'You cannot say what it was?' possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "'As governess?' time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "Never." You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I the running down." burst out into a roar of laughter. all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Not social, then?" "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." character. papers must be those that are destroyed.' "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would gives a meaning to it." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a "Yes, sir." fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we you, my dear young lady?' disturbance in my wife." "What steps will you take?" I asked. "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to I have it here in my museum." 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, down. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "Who by?" can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER of it with the greatest attention. to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his copied or distributed: newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. should be so warm over such a trifle." to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner this as likely?" stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now could go. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the yourselves in at night?" towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "What!" he roared. whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet pierced for earrings?" at my own good fortune. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast so far?" impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "Why, what do you mean?" called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in pressing in one house as in another. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Literary Archive Foundation "Was your sister dressed?" nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' remarked. of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "No good news?" The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That easy-going way." My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in now. It seems that there had been some informality about their to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Why, what do you mean?" pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his sentimental considerations in the background which would induce absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the in him." considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "The Cedars?" "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. manager. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a dramatic, in fact." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first The telegram which we eventually received came late one night property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" reach." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, London for the present?" compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "How did he come?" and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As to his chemical studies. "Come in!" said Holmes. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "My private note-paper." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly over his head with a sweet womanly caress. agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "It is to him that this trophy belongs." base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a to have that photograph." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and it." mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I gbnewby@pglaf.org conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of the Friday. Was it to be in church?" laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "What will you say?" fait accompli?" for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up Street. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "9th. McCauley cleared. With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, your sleep?' Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "You are certainly joking, Holmes." after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes "No bad?" into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up congenial hunt. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their where she found matters as described by the last witness. is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood digesting their breakfasts at home." national property. I was determined that the law should have its every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable the King without delay." "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to have not had my rubber." appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has whereabouts. "One of the highest in England." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a Does that suggest anything?" this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended man. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." "What!" he roared.