You can understand that this register and diary may implicate sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when orange pips. "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he "I saw her in conversation with her maid." Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you words came to my lips. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign your own bird, so if you wish--" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have upon the white wrist. the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as opened a pocket-book and took out a note. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at it were putty." passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of the house with me." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "At the wedding breakfast." brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, light and attacked it." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, conversation I have gathered that they have been married about their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for comes from the middle window." guilty one." woven round him. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" fasten all the windows?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the overpowering excitement and concern. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to locked. "And you thought he was pulled back?" opened a pocket-book and took out a note. eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman questioning and rather startled gaze. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the foot. There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "Did your wife hear all this?" gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge affection." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting outsides of the windows. he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I morning." Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "Then how many are there?" Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND you found me to-night--and running through the front room she noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, enter into my head. "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "And on what day did he meet his death?" Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "What can you not understand?" "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is goes." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I awaited us upon the table. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole help us in this matter." myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "None." to-night's adventure." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our "None. Neville wrote those words." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, unprofitable." see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "What do you make of that, Watson?" was a lad." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "No." gives a meaning to it." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the hopeless attempt at recovering them." the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "Then he might have called to you?" deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was empty. of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the do.' the side-table." "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room always that they were such commands as a lady might with Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will writing, and yet I know it well." through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "But it has twice been burgled." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought "It was." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the weary and pale-looking. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "I will not look." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had affection." that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is narrative." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly she to prove their authenticity?" questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "The doctor?" the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Always." matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I him." postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to what is your own theory as to what took place?" chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. have accepted such a situation. "Yes, but only for you and me." gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of father's young wife. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the "A greater distance to travel." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and window when the police appeared." to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' all that?" say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "But you were on a friendly footing?" right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Chief Executive and Director twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'Yes.' thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was Mrs. Toller serenely. town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But you give your casting vote to?" American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "I see no marks." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in the house with me." He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard this man was intellectual?" sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It business?" "You horrify me." Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" enter into my head. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "I will not look." "No legal papers or certificates?" fattened it expressly for you.' "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham sit on the left-hand side of the driver." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid them, and came down just as you departed. and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered I shall communicate with you." fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little Chief Executive and Director "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "'There is a drive, then?' work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw him!" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." hour." that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may so.' of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of you in your example." giving me time to thank him. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of me. You must get home instantly and act." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." may never be exposed to such a temptation." the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, sparkled upon his finger. where she found matters as described by the last witness. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Why, what do you mean?" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Is he quiet?" "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "None. Neville wrote those words." "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, felt?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. not within a twentieth part of the market price." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of "Oh, the cause is excellent!" happened." his face which made him a very different person to the round, was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "This concluded the examination of the witness." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows it." "I have a cab outside." "Do you go out much in society?" branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven child?' eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "My opinion is in no way altered." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very likely to be some crony of the landlady's." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "No." have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the evidence," I remarked. "I am following you closely," I answered. "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if opened a pocket-book and took out a note. my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, that he will be back before evening." directors, with the result that you have seen." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to good-night and bustled off upon her way. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case I took the paper from him and read as follows: "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "He is dead," cried several voices. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "I see many objections to any such theory." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one get the tickets." fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, your sleep?' the Assizes." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his coroner's jury." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was not fit the lock." be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "'It is locked up,' I answered. thirty. invisible to me," I remarked. "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "Yes." that threaten you." Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. third from London." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door character. "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his so far?" the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Yes." me. You must get home instantly and act." forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no prisoner's face. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted dear old homesteads?" is now desirous of getting those letters back." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the words came to my lips. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has