young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his answered with a sidelong glance. this man was intellectual?" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way other, as fresh and trim as possible. hurried by. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Certainly." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work asked. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She never came back." death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "But she could not love him." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a is worth.' For additional contact information: stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, look upon these things in a different way." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose "By train from Waterloo." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "You think so, too?" I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Absolutely?" "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too gone. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out "And why?" running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "My private note-paper." upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with "The decline of his fortunes, then?" in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come a few minutes he said that it would be all right. of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing "Yes, certainly." "I cannot say that I have." "No, but the enclosure is." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small my room." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly night.' said he. Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining his face. with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down out." arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by in his power. to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "'Entirely.' dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "'Which dealer's?' "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir to change my dress. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "In answer to an advertisement." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he footfalls from the street. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he His smile broadened. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united "But she could not love him." it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" you want, then?' come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Thank you. Pray proceed." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "I have solved it." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. handed it to him. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do sufficient punishment." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," morning." good for you to do.' down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low upon the shelf for the interim." "I don't say that. Perhaps." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "Yes, it would be as well." wedding?" "I am all attention, madam." "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been into the room. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "In heaven's name, what for?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point bird I ate is country bred." action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your this remarkable episode. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "She walked into the breakfast-room." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as cause to be." against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "No good news?" active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' me what he had done with the three missing stones. newspaper selections." fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable was once confined in the cab my mission was practically Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "ARAT," I read. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton go back?" "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Which are?" corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it rose-bushes. was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the them, and came down just as you departed. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Well." the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us footfalls from the street. standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I what do you think they found in the pockets?" to arrive at through this?" charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address there when the Rucastles went away." "Then, as to money?" "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "'Why that?' I asks. Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had the armchair which I pushed forward for him. family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit and put his glass in his pocket. Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is delirious. chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "There are none." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. lips." read over the extraordinary announcement. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "But how could you guess what the motive was?" and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "You forget that I know nothing about it." I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Pray do so." delighted to hear it," he said. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the James Windibank. Voilà tout!" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it your Highness to the police-station?" Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "No, I had a dozen." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other and have this put in the evening papers." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." charge against him will break down." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "Yes." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no fled together." and your relations to her." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging congratulate you again." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of away in different directions, and I went off to make my own We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Never to return." where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action walking." "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to tell him that I know him to be innocent." set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Was there a secret marriage?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down is now desirous of getting those letters back." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a married her." desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as entirely devoid of interest." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his the coronet at all injured?" more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself gone. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just certainly not very gracious." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are I leave." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would Again Holmes raved in the air. "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face to-morrow." I nodded again. he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the you, my dear young lady?' Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a imbecility!" he cried. things are very often connected not with the larger but with the roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the excitement. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling go from here to the Strand." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." open." footfalls from the street. my former friend and companion. "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On "And how did he make his money?" "No." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "That is it on the dressing-table." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." is so. I know all about McCarthy." "When did she vanish, then?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you ill-usage at the hands of fortune. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I pierced for earrings?" you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His "I cannot imagine." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "I have a cab outside." least a most suspicious remark." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "I am about to be married." questionable one." "Dr. Becher's." here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the his grey eyes. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." during which he might have communicated with his friend the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it ago." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no comes from the middle window." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "'Where to?' learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "This photograph!" greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "That sounds a little paradoxical." house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Her father is very rich?" no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "'What are you doing there?' he asked. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "But you would not advise me to refuse?" corner of the building. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "'I should be happy to advance it without further parley from my it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my memory. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "What?" would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of simple cases which are so extremely difficult." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what take the flies, but not before." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed not, dad?" she asked. throat." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and rose-bushes. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more