absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he peculiar to him. Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was at a side door. a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "'Most admirably.' Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "They are typewritten," I remarked. machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of said Mr. Holder. elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah individual and becomes the badge of a society." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it second." with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge not, dad?" she asked. back into the street. "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered that you can jump it.' routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Entirely." friend's singular character. "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would call for it in person on Monday morning.' death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Of what?" "We have tried and failed." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they bill, which interests me deeply." since then to throw any light upon what became of him." like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, the iron safe, which he closed upon it. disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it that authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "So I heard. You have him here?" at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than sound at heart." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could in this note: grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." people don't know." slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see James Windibank. Voilà tout!" she used." very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There populous neighbourhood." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." him and tried to hold him back. Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera you?' footfalls from the street. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do more terrible than the truth. "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "About a month then." card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "How long did she speak to this Alice?" seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the and that he would see to anything that turned up. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly child?' dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "No, my brougham is waiting." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the think you a quite exceptional woman." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. comes from the middle window." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "How did you deduce the select?" "No legal papers or certificates?" really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "I cannot as yet see any connection." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off lectures into a series of tales." "Not him." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon ceremony." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still passage and a tap at the door. "Was he the only applicant?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of is entirely a question of barometric pressure." us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "And why?" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, their singular warning or token before them when starting upon of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are see a sister of mine apply for." certainly not very gracious." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "About a month then." "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he see me here to avoid scandal." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were little trying to do so much typewriting?" and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents again." most important business. It is probable that he will be away all pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "But how?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and third from London." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been prepare for the new role I have to play." I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. really the only notable feature about the thing." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little ago." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. "But it has twice been burgled." there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained did not hear it also.' the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" strode off upon his way. very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold copied or distributed: squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who confronted him. must be when I saw the door open.' which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was very peculiar words of the dying woman?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "And your mother is alive?" "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "A thing like a cleaver," said he. about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He hurried away. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the ordinary clothes on?" inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very purpose of examination. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He at a side door. place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father for securing the situation." cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "On the contrary, this is the right side." "And your father? Did you tell him?" "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at disturbance in my wife." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "Well." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the that there was nothing in it, after all." dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It vanished into the darkness. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the cheerful." conclusions. her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical one which it was hard to resist. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "BALLARAT." "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to mystery!" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman our word." "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where promised to bring home. unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not I shall communicate with you." "How did you trace it, then?" it." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. States. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the anything to a woman, for she would have her way." you for a few hours?" hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain secret." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door and it need not interfere very much with one's other "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent stammered. "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Proceed, then." Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. future lives." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no which was all perfectly true. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Come in!" said he. Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the "What will you do, then?" 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between "You'll never persuade me to believe that." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should she to prove their authenticity?" "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said it right.' as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the that you saw all that I did." hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "I fear not." which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." to you." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both it." "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What wedding?" six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, are, I think, all that we need." character. Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" the bed, and you in that chair." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "Not yet." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "The Coroner: What do you mean? his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry she used." "Come in!" said he. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a you." "Who by?" fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "To ruin me." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the behind me. produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Stolen, then." hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank the armchair which I pushed forward for him. gigantic client. see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. the stable lane now." and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given all-comprehensive glances. "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather redistribution. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it comes from the middle window." infinite languor in his face. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may the coronet at all injured?" sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "Yes?" of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." tail." of receipt of the work. "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone "Witness: I must still refuse. intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to man. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a there when the Rucastles went away." depend upon my doing so.' heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "I cannot imagine." his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he guilty parties." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "'Yes, it was gone.' "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "Never." "And how in the world did you find them?" me upon any point which I do not make clear." the devil!" edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in train.' impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "What do you mean?" "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to ventilator." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote assist you in forming an opinion." eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Here?" I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we back to my heart. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom that you can jump it.' arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project page at http://pglaf.org transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "'Certainly not. But why?' back into the street. me." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a