himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it means taking possession of that which another person has a prior all?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. peculiar to him. quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of nothing with him." putting in the horse. long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "You know me, then?" character. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "I promise," said Holmes. "So it appears." to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he excitement. speckled band?" you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. him!" test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever all?" centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety her also." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. be.' "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a had picked up in the wood. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped we went to search for him, face downward in a little the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a bled considerably." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote face and glided from the room. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been everything which you would wish to know." silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "'Not at all. I only doubt--' inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you returned to France?" more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set straighten it?" "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a this man was intellectual?" "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear to where he stood hid behind the curtain. would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and felt?" to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Cross for the Continent." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom annoyance, but no jest. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I "Yes, he did." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." outbreak?" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's footfalls from the street. "'I have already given you my word.' "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and woman who has had her own way to make in the world. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the arrangements." being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a unclasping of his long thin hands. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up already referred to. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons outside." for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand the child." burst into a hearty fit of laughter. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I confronted him. could go. afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular there when the Rucastles went away." light and attacked it." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, maid will bring up your coffee." to change my dress. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal way in." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon the side-table." soul! here is her carriage at the door." "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. crackling voice. photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better wall." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "When did it break out?" the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back You want to know what became of those geese?" "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened "My opinion is in no way altered." my room." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was the so-precious time, but come!' round with crates and massive boxes. the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building of the vacancies.' It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "'Yes, sir.' "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a with you alone." the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to "So I have heard." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot take the flies, but not before." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "I am all attention, madam." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been "That also I could fathom." "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman was a perfect sample of the class. "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens my former friend and companion. main points of my analysis." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "At what time?" clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "My dear Holmes!" "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have wife's character?" "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless second." passage and a tap at the door. should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain "You forget that I know nothing about it." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to of receipt of the work. innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his him." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a him!" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to forecastle of an emigrant ship. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "An accident, I presume?" assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set him." Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and business?" "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set it." remarked. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should is," said he presently: loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed tied." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We anything to a woman, for she would have her way." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited she used." consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to know what is wrong with it.' distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "He said too much." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "We must sit without light. He would see it through the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the Chief Executive and Director either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when details should find their way into the papers. Inspector room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. to-night's adventure." "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. union?" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little this as likely?" nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "I guessed as much." in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' clang of the bell. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left nonsense.' is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "VIOLET HUNTER." noble correspondent could be. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from a room. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the against a man in the prime of life?" all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now My friend smiled. third from London." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from cigars in their mouths. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the chambers. and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always I think that I could be of assistance to you." "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "That is unusual in a young girl." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and mystery." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "Your French gold?" his huge brown hands. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "It is very clear." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House the coronet in his hand?" at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "I warn you that they are very incomplete." our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at new acquaintance to Baker Street. "'What, the red-headed man?' Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. said I. the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND bonnet, and went out." he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to that threaten you." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, seen the man in the road." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, go back?" been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "ARAT," I read. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it mystery." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual to tackle the facts." My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, introspective fashion. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "I cannot imagine." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Deserted you?" "Game for a morning drive?" And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "None." and the colonel ushered me in. "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly most interesting one." "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot forbidden door. He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where garden below. for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "Seven!" I answered. agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already