of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the returning from some small jollification and was making his way only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the is so. I know all about McCarthy." me upon any point which I do not make clear." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the ill-usage at the hands of fortune. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be hands. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and weapon." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "What, then?" every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as tightly behind him. assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing invisible to me," I remarked. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness said I. reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation digesting their breakfasts at home." wedding?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. and wait." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his again on its way. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' emerged. name is different." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you returning from some small jollification and was making his way accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do a suggestive one." feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare in the port of London." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of "'Then let me do so?' basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "And how did you verify them?" that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it friends, not even his own brother. "Not I." reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "'Very good.' good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in lamp in his hand. a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "Pray do so." than was visible to me." guilty one." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called the coronet at all injured?" would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible photograph a cabinet?" "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "How on earth--" robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she Lee, in the county of Kent." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "Tired-looking or fresh?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of all-comprehensive glances. cigars in their mouths. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. "Yes, I have one waiting." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite and put his glass in his pocket. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must Serpentine Avenue. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that so.' provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will "It was an hour's good drive." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Only as much as we can deduce." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a of them has the shutters up.' written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different allusion to a rat. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to fat-encircled eyes. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he the morning and make my own way in the world.' felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private "I have come for advice." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "How often?" dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are happened." should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been *** START: FULL LICENSE *** "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' where we are going." in. the window, rose as we entered. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. affair. gives a meaning to it." an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the with you?" the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in I leave." which we had just quitted. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to his face. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which your co-operation." said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "In the cells." could go. "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my straightened it out again. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "'And what salary do you ask?' Eyford." "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, said he, "my real name is James Ryder." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the sparkled upon his finger. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away morning." There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, "The best possible." "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do you, my dear young lady?' considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "Yes, he did." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is noble correspondent could be. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events sufficient punishment." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the the stable lane now." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "I have solved it." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel into the bag, and made for the door. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "And now?" He raised his hand. my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either I was concerned in it." reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of "But I am all in the dark." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of fat-encircled eyes. outside. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it "So it appears." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "An enemy?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some "My last client of the sort was a king." before, for it was considerably after midnight. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the delighted to hear it," he said. "I promise," said Holmes. practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her examine." "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Not in a good cause." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "At the wedding breakfast." "I was sure that I might rely on you." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life woman." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "Yes." engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a seem to you to be relevant or not." "There is the writing." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It me. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could mystery!" "Was the window open?" "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Yes, from Horsham." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from the window, rose as we entered. certainly not very gracious." word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to anything to a woman, for she would have her way." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that acquaintance?" With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "I don't say that. Perhaps." laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "Game for a morning drive?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that letters?" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her it means?" scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are his cane at the bell-pull. "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's the house with me." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' other lovers by making love himself." extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "When did she vanish, then?" promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Of Friday, June 19th." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it bachelor.' difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they at my own good fortune. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in habit of advancing money.' had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. 1.E.9. "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of are windows in it, of course?" your most interesting statement." "Frequently." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she you?' my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding "That also I could fathom." and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building Project Gutenberg-tm works. square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Yes." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a ill-usage at the hands of fortune. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said this remarkable episode. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." unprofitable." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do touch that coronet?' Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "Well, some hundreds of times." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight minor matters until to-morrow." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among more solid." where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and and a shock of very red hair. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in murdered man." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "But I am all in the dark." minor matters until to-morrow." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his point our research must commence, and we will begin it by it were putty." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his into the room. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "'Not at all. I only doubt--' this remarkable episode. upon the sideboard." village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This you found me to-night--and running through the front room she "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. secret." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and second." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "'I am sure that I do not know.' has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. companion. lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was do." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to