"You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said "That's no good." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "In which, sir?" skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you been." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up remarked. Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, question," said Holmes, smiling. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all against a man in the prime of life?" Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "What is it, then--a fire?" having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is back alive. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "In answer to an advertisement." My friend smiled. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his are, and they are waiting for us." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and I am not easy in my mind about them." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "'Certainly not. But why?' three fields round his house, and there he would take his what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "The vanishing of the lady." Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making the address that was given us in the advertisement. business." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An skylight. array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to that?' going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of was used.' Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned it." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "Deserted you?" younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the will he say when he returns?" eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and a suggestive one." "Precisely." Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "But how?" this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and coat-tails." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad you do it in twenty minutes!' dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low the iron safe, which he closed upon it. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as outbreak?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. "When did she vanish, then?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now know that the truth is known." enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." easy-going way." "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who approach us with offers to donate. "Entirely." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for events, Mr. Windibank!" "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when country, and eventually married, without anyone having a key turn in the lock." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek Arthur Conan Doyle landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into new duties?' folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was "Of what day?" hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." Holmes' thin, eager face. marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. voice. imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be the roots. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, better in every way that they should make their position a little main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice Have you good authority for what you say?" "You have carte blanche." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "A client, then?" home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a coat-tails." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, get her out of the way." the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "How did you deduce the select?" of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties you in yours." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the "By train from Waterloo." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "But how?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his into her hand at the door and which lured her within their basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "'Yes, I promise.' Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt "No. What a strange idea!" light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by the coronet at all injured?" stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Your sister is dead, then?" as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "No, distinctly professional." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' instincts rose up against that laugh. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your You want to know what became of those geese?" about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then fashion which was peculiar to him. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was again." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Count Von Kramm." The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "So it appears." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "I don't believe it." "A client, then?" I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "The best possible." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks him to be an active member of the medical profession." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Frequently." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" the iron safe, which he closed upon it. him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. wedding?" weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." off." utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, in him." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "But how could you guess what the motive was?" that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he swore that no one else had been in the front room during the which are rolled in Rotterdam." she used." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Yes, it would be as well." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, second window is the one that I jumped from." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. introspective fashion. when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement cup of tea. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "The vanishing of the lady." we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "'I shall certainly be there.' "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was the stones. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "I see no marks." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be third from London." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "And now?" He raised his hand. waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on gbnewby@pglaf.org weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical was shining brightly. "And who is her maid?" "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite three fields round his house, and there he would take his "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I you want, then?' "It certainly sounds feasible." to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, business." Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Then what has happened to him?" I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor chill to my heart. "Very. But will he see it?" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. will not take me long to tell. "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I galvanised. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, when you have done it." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "And leave your case unfinished?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that towards the blaze. "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "No." very morning of my second wedding." his huge brown hands. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Yes, at the mines." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said the armchair which I pushed forward for him. "'Is purely nominal.' was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the inner apartment." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "Your French gold?" corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Now, then, what's the last entry?" gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Witness: Nothing definite. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram derbies." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded obstinate." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I It was close upon four before the door opened, and a doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "But your client--" beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "My dear Holmes!" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "No more words. Get out!" of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple stepfather?"