expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "You have the photograph?" by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one carried out of court." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this make me his representative both with the servants and with the "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the Count Von Kramm." she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so "The doctor?" newspaper selections." Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" there is a decided draught." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "What do you mean?" his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "But it has twice been burgled." hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "But how will you look?" "I cannot tell." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be bears upon the case?" "So I have heard." "Pray do so." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, chance at all." a room. as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "'What, the red-headed man?' threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after views." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one answered with a sidelong glance. given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "That is also quite modern," said the lady. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from know what is wrong with it.' "When did she vanish, then?" outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "I see no marks." round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "But I have heard all that you have heard." have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "Yes, only one." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little returned to France?" the bottom.' putting in the horse. fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT "In heaven's name, what for?" first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I to-night?' mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from "You don't mind breaking the law?" "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "In answer to an advertisement." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the daring than any effort of the imagination." I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Pray do so." fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I excitement. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he the Red-headed League." platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind villagers almost as much as their master. "'Yes, it was gone.' His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." outside. in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not people in all walks of life. easy-going way." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "And that is--" Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Breckinridge is his name." Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "'Never,' said I. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he whatever might befall. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, least a fellow-countryman. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point held up the lantern and gazed about him. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "I fear not." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His his cane at the bell-pull. Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." to me. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving but preventing her from injuring another. all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something "Yes, at the mines." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Of what?" there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a very peculiar words of the dying woman?" gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of "No, thank goodness, she did not." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little rose-bushes. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had "Was your sister dressed?" is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "It certainly sounds feasible." right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she it means?" again before evening." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a in one or two places in England?' his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "And your father? Did you tell him?" only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the passage and a tap at the door. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, and wait." "If I can be of use." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he would apply.' right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend 1.E.9. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Yes, only one." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "I see no marks." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a "It is to him that this trophy belongs." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most you understand?" as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner that there was nothing in it, after all." "Quite so. She has her freedom." photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "Very murderous indeed." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It face and glided from the room. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Stolen, then." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were examination of the premises, but without finding anything which Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the Where does the thing come from?' to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to six. Come in!" he died? "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "I shall be delighted." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined felt?" back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Then, as to money?" "What steps will you take?" I asked. long narrative. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, to where he stood hid behind the curtain. pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small hopeless attempt at recovering them." black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in redistribution. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the back alive. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" "No." a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." help us in this matter." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "Awake, Watson?" he asked. estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the fact, we may call it conclusive." "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "What! Had he lost his wife?" at home. an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to morning." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a in one or two places in England?' box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are case before our client came into the room." gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss I approached. hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." late!' It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! you for a few hours?" and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." fuss that is made over them." "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter own family. second window is the one that I jumped from." salesman. the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was six. Come in!" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." mysterious end." "How on earth--" "'Certainly not. But why?' husband's writing, madam." "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "Will you bet, then?" glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, whole matter to your consideration." was a loud and authoritative tap. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "None." Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's in your London, you will know that the office of the company is in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at in this note: "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our man. I know him from the photograph." more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage and I shall be with you presently." too. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and tear off another piece?' what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked official police." upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, Arthur Conan Doyle "'As governess?' The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Did you become engaged then?" our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your most important business. It is probable that he will be away all upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Yes, but only for you and me." weary and pale-looking. "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "And the cigar-holder?" which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped bachelor.' so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "'There is a drive, then?' probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the is a common subject for conversation. wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her married her." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But call for it in person on Monday morning.' "There are none." and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his you." difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "I don't say that. Perhaps." idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with room. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at formed some opinion?" and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "He said too much." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "That was it, sir." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming evidence," I remarked. took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it