In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, "How did you deduce the select?" village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the wedding?" telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to pound a week." "But how will you look?" along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I head. So long, then!" was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" enter Dr. Roylott's room." "But his left-handedness." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all highly," said Holmes. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "She walked into the breakfast-room." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different evidence," I remarked. guilty parties." "Eh? What was that?" out of this horrible affair." "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a wedding?" when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "But we can't all be." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. the little opening for the ventilator is." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Absolutely?" Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Is he quiet?" our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "By all means." fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would a monotonous occupation." fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, here and I will read it to you: the bottom.' hopeless attempt at recovering them." "What will you do, then?" your co-operation." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you your sleep?' and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded use an arc-and-compass breastpin." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, the iron safe, which he closed upon it. houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, redistribution. presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "'Certainly not.' have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before your troubles." "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their "Yes, only one." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The thin legs towards the fire. there were so many in the whole country as were brought together occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. individual and becomes the badge of a society." sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "I will not look." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "If I can be of use." "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he tied." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated him." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. was a lad." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to the ceiling. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very "None." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed on re-entering her father's house?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if standing smiling on the door-step. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he it were putty." o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." bearing upon the case." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than British peeress.'" I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "That is not always so easy." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more your most interesting statement." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on Henry Baker is a member." "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" strode off upon his way. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was have been better. It is all right." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently fire. You quite follow me?" collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "The doctor?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no indeed happy." was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, three of the beryls in it, was missing. "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less about. "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "I warn you that they are very incomplete." events, Mr. Windibank!" Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, "I cannot imagine." we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." strength in the others." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. case-book, which he consulted. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small lamp. Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "I am still in the dark." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose lids now and glanced across at his visitor. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "No, I think that I'll take it." "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Whose house is it?" was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "What, then, did Peterson do?" said I. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that beg that you will break it off." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Nothing." "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "What is it, then--a fire?" which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening had no one to advise her at such a crisis." he died? a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "How do you know, then?" residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double chambers. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by there were so many in the whole country as were brought together pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But locked." be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth affection." amused." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments tightly behind him. I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that speckled band?" the nursery. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your I shall communicate with you." have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside garden below. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. highroad, where all traces were lost. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my and files of the old papers, following the future career of every it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary Does that suggest anything?" Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll straighten it?" http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we which I could not give. He asked for Alice. forbidden door. "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, "What do you make of that, Watson?" promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how vault. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out breakfast and whispered something to her husband. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "Yes, he did." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. about. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. neither fascinating nor artistic." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." of this gang." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, once more for Briony Lodge. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had place no limit on the sum I may draw." a little more before I quite committed myself. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from answered with a sidelong glance. "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Does that suggest anything?" returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry footfalls from the street. "You are hungry," I remarked. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held pictures, libraries, or plate. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the hardly wander." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, upon the sideboard." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think investigation." "You horrify me!" back alive. the date of his supposed suicide." depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in again on its way. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this is," said he presently: "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. the window, rose as we entered. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before one of them." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "The best possible." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. the roots. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "That was it, sir." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "And what did you see?" Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my coat-tails." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box if she died from some sudden fright." call you and give you the chance." you for a few hours?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are beyond words. of Mr. Rucastle's." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that outside." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon kindly on the shoulder. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar washing it down with a long draught of water. inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." detective. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it there when the Rucastles went away." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he should be taken.' "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "His face fell immediately. me what he had done with the three missing stones. "I see many objections to any such theory." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was "But how could you guess what the motive was?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, Pope's Court. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole are windows in it, of course?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the which are rolled in Rotterdam." "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point 'please.'" murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and matter." feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather handed it to him. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic something of him before." two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "An enemy?" fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Yes." to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised "Did your wife hear all this?" lamp in his hand. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are strength of mind to control. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a For additional contact information: sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the Does that suggest anything?" the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "What?" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, started for the Temple to see my husband. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, your troubles." in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were as he remarks, very much against the son." can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" weary and pale-looking. We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "How can you tell that?" convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. morning." "Stolen, then." the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would her also." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "I am following you closely," I answered. "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from their singular warning or token before them when starting upon morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to "But how could you guess what the motive was?" takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the Red-headed League." "Where, indeed?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands