Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. "Absolutely?" goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to round and wave him away like that.' "What! Had he lost his wife?" "'About the same.' Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official once more to my work. asked with his eyes open. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old constraint." crime. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I placed his cuttings. whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed that, and I came down." the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "No, finished." was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business been with you?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of said he. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "But you have hopes?" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the becomes even more simple." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "Yes, he did." "And sit in the dark?" "But of what society?" drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Foundation If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a which was all perfectly true. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "To an English lawyer named Norton." "What then?" does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab the morning and make my own way in the world.' ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." events, Mr. Windibank!" your billet.' things are very often connected not with the larger but with the weapon." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have it right.' "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. just ask you whether you had heard it.' "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year there!' marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The throat." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I or in danger--" cigars in their mouths. the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "How often?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and obstinate." "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple things are very often connected not with the larger but with the my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Always." insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew even of instruction." "Not him." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" unprofitable." "You horrify me." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he whole matter to your consideration." "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his "'And what are they worth?' I asked. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a is four-and-twenty." chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then the room while you explain this matter?" appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the cigar and let me expound." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "I came to find a friend." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "That sounds a little paradoxical." foresight and the moral retrogression?" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to The telegram which we eventually received came late one night swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "'Certainly not. But why?' last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; that threaten you." certainly not very gracious." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Well?" the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a indiscretion." "My dear Holmes!" of note-paper. It read in this fashion: "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect she might be summoned. "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade as the one I chose?' the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm call for protection in the marriage market, for the present and effective." "This concluded the examination of the witness." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried tension within him. common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he little adventures." that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and details." if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "Here?" a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after threw himself down with his face to the pillow. chambers. "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the made his money." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say Foundation "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "Texas, I think." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering them?" first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he asked. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very During two years I have had three consultations and one small importance to keep at three. From that appointment he never came "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Yes?" speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as points in connection with it which never have been, and probably "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in up this clue while it is still hot." on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Really! You surprise me." together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "I am following you closely," I answered. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her photograph a cabinet?" "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a quickly through a disagreeable task. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "Yes." and your relations to her." it." "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "How often?" "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main Have you good authority for what you say?" many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "I don't believe it." "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a about here speaks of his kindness to him." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I himself to hunt down. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. remarked. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that who was a member of your goose club." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before the armchair which I pushed forward for him. that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, interests were the same as his." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Breckinridge is his name." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "But I have heard all that you have heard." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted chemical work which was so dear to him. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Farm upon the left." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Holmes rather sternly. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a where we are going." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who and that he would see to anything that turned up. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow closing the door. nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my went to the Alpha were town bred." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the it." to-night?" I asked. "Well?" even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "'Certainly,' I answered. of Fenchurch Street." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "I assure you that I am in your hands." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Awake, Watson?" he asked. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her breakfast and whispered something to her husband. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" http://www.gutenberg.net is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would drawing your inferences." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old read over the extraordinary announcement. uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his that you wished to speak to me?' object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." upon the sideboard." his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that appeal." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. "It is possible." and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, him and tried to hold him back. to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is telegram would bring me down to your help." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how completely overtopped every other consideration that we both reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his the morning and make my own way in the world.' action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office vault. "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. Surrey." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw noting anything else of interest. in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" definite end. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "This photograph!" charged with?" be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the sake, don't!" brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either one of the states of the Union." his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and again before evening." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Never to return." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the