return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' you want, then?' the matter?" "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. his wife has ceased to love him." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be pity, because in other respects you would really have done very And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "Pray be precise as to details," said he. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a compunction about shooting them down." against a man in the prime of life?" and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, said he. not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end "'I have heard so.' danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to any little problem which you may submit to me." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but voice. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel me have 200 pounds?' moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united get the tickets." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a which it had come upon my father." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, garden below. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, was a perfect sample of the class. "The best possible." "Always." "What do you mean?" equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His daring than any effort of the imagination." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be guilty parties." vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small coat-tails." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the points in connection with it which never have been, and probably I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "But he might be a bachelor." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "Ah, but I was recommended to you." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her them present such singular features as the strange train of "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was peculiar to him. ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet and inquire as to the address." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "And your mother is alive?" always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble joking. humiliation." Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to Munro.' dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He think, you have already met." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you all-comprehensive glances. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. October 9, 1890. "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I bed dies. Does not that strike you?" very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done "Yes, only one." disappearance of the bride.'" "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew better in every way that they should make their position a little Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if once more on the important position which you have been fortunate as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could very morning of my second wedding." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused the armchair which I pushed forward for him. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover enough to aid us in our search." a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight been shamefully used." "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "On Monday." about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is papers must be those that are destroyed.' fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't three fields round his house, and there he would take his Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "A call for help, you thought?" passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea own family. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the cause to be." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a outbreak?" The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "And who is her maid?" "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "And your father? Did you tell him?" not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear chambers. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! sufficient punishment." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low was it brought him the coronet? housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "None." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his clang of the bell. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "What, then?" money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you pressing in one house as in another. just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down meant it for the best. have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and felt?" snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Yes, from Horsham." I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "In which, sir?" him to go away.' slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest this truth that in these little records of our cases which you "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "I cannot say that I have." "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers I shall communicate with you." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "Her father is very rich?" a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a to take care of herself." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions sound at heart." husband's writing, madam." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "Why? What do you mean?" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be quick march!" I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we occupations.' save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who matters immensely." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "'There is a drive, then?' flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To the loss of it. a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "He is still with you, I presume?" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "She will not sell." jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "That also I could fathom." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "It is very clear." all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "And how did you verify them?" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "A greater distance to travel." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is morning." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. were unconscious?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. all?" here." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "A thing like a cleaver," said he. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have in one or two places in England?' to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were Gutenberg-tm License. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the some water from a caraffe. high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it cup of tea. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "If so, much may have happened between." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "I should like to see him very much." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began less than 26s. 4d. room?" action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time south, for the country is more deserted there." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "The murder was done with it." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all whereabouts. set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but invisible to me," I remarked. made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a pound a week." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "The murder was done with it." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. mystery may be cleared along those lines." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "This concluded the examination of the witness." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight are windows in it, of course?" had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as ventilator." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my better grown goose." perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "'Entirely.' Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a strength of mind to control. "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, been." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I it were putty." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "I will try. What is it?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding words came to my lips. "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some charge against him will break down." back into the street. him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim fact, we may call it conclusive." "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of