impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to and shall probably return to London by the evening train." I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was three of the beryls in it, was missing. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his you." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were Holmes' face clouded over. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At His smile broadened. which we had just quitted. since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in "Is he quiet?" "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in I leave." hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black pictures, libraries, or plate. "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was fat-encircled eyes. "I am all attention, madam." should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" house for five minutes.' I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he The events in question occurred in the early days of my sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal certainly do as you advise." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to "If so, much may have happened between." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should some place of shelter and let the county police know what has thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see "'I shall certainly be there.' my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our taking in every detail of the apartment. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about during which he might have communicated with his friend the came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, man. I nodded again. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is touch that coronet?' sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry tapping his fingers upon the table. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been shoulder. very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we "But his left-handedness." "So it appears." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "What! Had he lost his wife?" away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! him to go away.' action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." events, Mr. Windibank!" faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington nothing of it?" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "I assure you that I am in your hands." Sutherland. shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "You don't mind breaking the law?" may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the I leave." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "And why?" shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the "I would pay ten." there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the been anything against him. He had for years been known as a invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even to change my dress. "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. fled together." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not what I may call a really hard day's work." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "No." "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about away to you." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "Very much so." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it it means?" Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, appeal." "Not yet." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "Very much so." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the ran thus: owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for and a shock of very red hair. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Where did you address your letters, then?" "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about not fit the lock." Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that not personally threatened." "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is key turn in the lock." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two joking. empty. "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by unprecedented a position." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always hand, madam?" know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "No." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our him and tried to hold him back. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." indeed happy." "Well." entirely devoid of interest." "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the never to learn it at all." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the running down." "Come in!" said he. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "But how did you gain them?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the presented more singular features than that which was associated II. though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Then he might have called to you?" merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed such attractions and accomplishments?' fear." grasp, he hurried from the room. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "Ten will be early enough." outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of there has been an enclosure here!" companion quietly. and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country gone. "Yes, I have one waiting." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "I will try. What is it?" "I would give my fortune to have them back." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. enter into my head. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. case before our client came into the room." strong and stiff." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had criminal. We have already had experience of such." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, spark where all is dark to me." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my or other trace. But how on earth--" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." floor. instituted." me where it went to?" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has young Openshaw's." one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. noble correspondent could be. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' even so self-evident a thing as that." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "I have a cab outside." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some dead, shall be safe with us." would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to make me his representative both with the servants and with the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the the matter." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the problems help me to do so." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "I have solved it." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a him to go away.' "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "I think it very unlikely." Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "How do you know, then?" from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Then I shall certainly come." "'Why that?' I asks. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is not personally threatened." "I would pay ten." fashion which was peculiar to him. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general salesman. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "When did it break out?" "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it knowledge of the world." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "I will do it." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour lids now and glanced across at his visitor. you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this correct than the official force." corner of the building. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not anything to do with the matter?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "Certainly." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my It may be so in this case, also." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did when your master had gone out." "It is very kind of you." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a in the dead of the night?' "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever Foundation it were putty." the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little the house with me." "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to true." rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "You did not overhear what they said?" name is different." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on spark where all is dark to me." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened all-comprehensive glances. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw upon the shelf for the interim." lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to "Yes." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every and no precautions can guard against." wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the "Frequently." and I shall be with you presently." girl said." hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy when your master had gone out." "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' again on its way. copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative certainly do as you advise." that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused strange features which were associated with the two crimes which following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Well, but China?" frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six was the fact that his father should, according to his account, carpenter." information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle new acquaintance to Baker Street. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "But not more so than I to find you." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. call you and give you the chance." exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "I guessed as much." Lee, in the county of Kent." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the arrangements." 1.E.9. me. save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, asked with his eyes open. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. cigar and let me expound." before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "Well, but China?" likely to be some crony of the landlady's." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." you in yours." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 lost his Christmas dinner." sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you lost his Christmas dinner." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were own family. isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to "Absolutely none." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out neither fascinating nor artistic." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was