that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." get her out of the way." it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "I say it is." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light emerged. is worth.' which our visitor detailed to us. against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, this man was intellectual?" who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, it were putty." answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem hereditary King of Bohemia." bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and plantation.' deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very guilty parties." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself the matter?" on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened was used.' "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his remarked. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I such attractions and accomplishments?' "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a cause to be." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. chill to my heart. not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then photograph?" the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I hopeless attempt at recovering them." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after as yours." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, good-night and bustled off upon her way. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "It is very clear." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric late!' made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were a monotonous occupation." have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, future lives." "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. his face which made him a very different person to the round, next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry husband's writing, madam." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND seem to you to be relevant or not." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will horse could go." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "'Yes, it was gone.' important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The It was close upon four before the door opened, and a tied." "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which Doctor, of the paper and the date." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "'And the work?' Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer and all of them with the keenest interest. waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of you." have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of you give your casting vote to?" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Pool. the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "'Where to?' seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the awkward doing business with an alias." upon the shelf for the interim." to change my dress. was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with http://www.gutenberg.net "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. kind enough to tell me what I should do." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "You think that he is dead?" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. and your relations to her." "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running brandy and water within his reach. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "You know me, then?" really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow copied or distributed: impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "Your French gold?" and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got sparkled upon his finger. for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward and the colonel ushered me in. look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our that?' the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send "Eh? What was that?" he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." if I call to-morrow?" the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It should be so warm over such a trifle." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the points to suicide?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive grasp, he hurried from the room. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. will take you up to see the machine.' LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "I have my revolver," said I. he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you his cane at the bell-pull. sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently time." so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded amused." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can with her." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it is worth.' a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger was a lad." not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "At what time?" "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which lids now and glanced across at his visitor. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "It missed him, then?" particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark "Thank you. And your address?" old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your events than those which have happened in my own family." often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel the iron safe, which he closed upon it. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder posted to-day." flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad than was visible to me." ordinary clothes on?" Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third be. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not "No, I think that I'll take it." "There is the writing." sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "'Quite sure, dad.' him nearly every evening." "Can I be of assistance?" "Nothing." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "Texas, I think." ceremony." that you saw all that I did." began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so annoyance, but no jest. Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "Yes, from Horsham." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" me where it went to?" "I am to be neutral?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor for the market.' It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons too. she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "Then you may be so with me." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their national property. I was determined that the law should have its "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "That is possible." "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and few hundred pounds.' Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "Have you her photograph?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious the room while you explain this matter?" the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. must be when I saw the door open.' had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "I fear not." that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his *** START: FULL LICENSE *** be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "His face fell immediately. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp astonishment. "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." introspective fashion. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility minor matters until to-morrow." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to started for the Temple to see my husband. I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your depend upon my doing so.' that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a some terrible trap for her." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "To an end?" have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have generous with you in money matters.' copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him "Never." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the father's place of business?" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "Won't it ring?" that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, as he folded up the epistle. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any The note was undated, and without either signature or address. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold fattened it expressly for you.' pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new quick march!" disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as even so self-evident a thing as that." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." foot. mystery!" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," The police have openly confessed that they can at present make I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his help us in this matter." Arthur Conan Doyle We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. generous with you in money matters.' in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "And I." matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that Holmes' room. with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs