man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular man. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the "Holmes, the busybody!" happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to kindly on the shoulder. have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true the morning and make my own way in the world.' galvanised. "What will you do, then?" lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had will he say when he returns?" "My dear Holmes!" "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with handed it to him. "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable joking. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he tear off another piece?' little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, and that he would see to anything that turned up. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "In answer to an advertisement." "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip my friend's incisive reasoning. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to orange pips. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to morning." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm will take you up to see the machine.' THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "Get out!" said he. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." asked. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a "About a month then." occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, silent! Oh, he will be silent!' affair. question. "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, discontent upon his features. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really "I am in hopes that she does." difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in have I gained?" performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works me. You must get home instantly and act." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "'Stolen!' he cried. would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "On Monday." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by desk. Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "And I say east," said my patient. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some good-night and bustled off upon her way. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "What shall I do?" "It came here." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the companion. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our to talk it over. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Her father is very rich?" "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Dark enough and sinister enough." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw unprecedented a position." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission who was a member of your goose club." papers." "Married! When?" office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full you." you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm Have you good authority for what you say?" untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. with you?" house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch mystery!" "And why?" firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Pray continue your narrative." was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it morning." suddenly upon us." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not point in the dark hollow of his hand. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up the station." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into that he has suffered." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out you found me to-night--and running through the front room she Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of things are very often connected not with the larger but with the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "And the cigar-holder?" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "I have solved it." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything burst into a hearty fit of laughter. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down and effective." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very a very grave face. problems help me to do so." "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "At what time?" lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any case before our client came into the room." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that wife's character?" cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that man. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would gives a meaning to it." Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and is now desirous of getting those letters back." works. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the best detective that ever lived. "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Did your wife hear all this?" upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "What!" he roared. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." will take you up to see the machine.' "But his lameness?" McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "I should wish to." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that what these perils are?" that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "Well." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, guilty parties." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We see me here to avoid scandal." "It is possible." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect and no precautions can guard against." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it Sutherland. prison!" treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and not fit the lock." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no as yours." the one as in the other." out of this horrible affair." without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "I don't say that. Perhaps." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." himself in a perplexing position. "Then I am your man." "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Miss Holder?" said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, is now desirous of getting those letters back." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had soul! here is her carriage at the door." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "So I heard. You have him here?" my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I go from here to the Strand." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "But to whom?" headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him Pope's Court, Fleet Street." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when the bottom.' Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "One?" His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'Which dealer's?' laugh and put his lips to my ear. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "I should like to see him very much." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the only touch the interest." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "At the wedding breakfast." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story before the coroner and the police-court." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Yes." to you." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you asked with his eyes open. "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence case before our client came into the room." not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him maid will bring up your coffee." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I not come at once?" staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out that before taking the final step I should like to submit the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as advice." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "Yes, they were peculiar boots." might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in already referred to. the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "It must be recovered." round and wave him away like that.' "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the pressing in one house as in another. of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a emerged. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the meanly of me." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the works. "'Yes, it was gone.' "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "The best possible." "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a "You are hungry," I remarked. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to "What then?" "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND second window is the one that I jumped from." business in the City. She little knew what. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "What can it mean?" I gasped. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, union?" aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. becomes even more simple." again, where I was soon asleep. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, mystery may be cleared along those lines." note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would colour had been driven from his face. even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so fear." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in "Whose house is it?" while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can his wife has ceased to love him." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "It may not come to that," said Holmes. was a lad." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the such person." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "No, thank goodness, she did not." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY you in your example." When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and putting in the horse. lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his once more on the important position which you have been fortunate this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Pray tell us what has happened to you." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "About a month then." straightened it out again. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm very morning of my second wedding." Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had