found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "Witness: I must still refuse. "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot prepare for the new role I have to play." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. fashion which was peculiar to him. some water from a caraffe. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' ago." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying felt the room to be a little close.' were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two all?" Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. presume?" all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "You will not go there first?" saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is golden eyeglasses. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "Entirely." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be said he. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me entirely devoid of interest." "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would Pool. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Breckinridge is his name." crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it she has been waylaid. There has been no result." I nodded again. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as "What office?" his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about "What steps will you take?" I asked. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, persecution?" could not have written that. It is the German who is so heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" yards of it?' "It must be recovered." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of putting in the horse. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Precisely." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "We must sit without light. He would see it through the Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their families. Now for the facts. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it been able to understand it, in a very few words. - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "Was the window open?" enter into my head. somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he to tell." tension within him. over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." sit on the left-hand side of the driver." faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very wanted for ourselves." "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ orange pips. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few is worth.' of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, if I call to-morrow?" was shining brightly. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. "And did you observe any change in her then?" "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" "And you thought he was pulled back?" treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name unprecedented a position." "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "I will try. What is it?" box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much closing the door. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "'What would be the hours?' I asked. very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his friends, not even his own brother. case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "In which, sir?" battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Why did you pick him?" in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. the coronet in his hand?" of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small wedding?" minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining hardly wander." his eyes and forehead. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two paper in the air. possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most there." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the money should be paid at once.' months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your then?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for prove to be little relation between the different incidents of fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I the side-table." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and "Can I be of assistance?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained and I shall be with you presently." "Do you know him?" afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in begin with, and I had not got mine yet." window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered looking up at the numbers of the houses." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be were wasted." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not one or two very singular points about this room. For example, see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all noting anything else of interest. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "Whose house is it?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Were they all fastened this morning?" It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down might help us?" ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "My stepfather's business papers." PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and client, rising. against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as the devil!" heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave brain must have something in it." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite like that before?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "Well, it is a possible supposition." wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than "One of the highest in England." He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "Yes, it was twisted." up this clue while it is still hot." They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Then, how do you know?" "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "So I heard. You have him here?" like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror house for five minutes.' imbecility!" he cried. "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. The King stared at him in amazement. request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other grasp, he hurried from the room. begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Did you become engaged then?" 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one horse could go." row." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of "'I am sure that I do not know.' heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with lamp in his hand. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "But your client--" "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Your presence might be invaluable." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the one of them." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "I don't believe it." "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "Yes, sir." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small bell. Holmes whistled. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "In heaven's name, what for?" nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and case before our client came into the room." "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Yes." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "You horrify me." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "What is it?" about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then straightened it out again. just called myself is not exactly my own." from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a nonsense.' that you saw all that I did." and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "'Not at all. I only doubt--' there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "You did not overhear what they said?" himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was returned to France?" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. particular state visit http://pglaf.org "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" cigars in the box." "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Is he quiet?" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but a monotonous occupation." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, too. "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that crime." Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices http://gutenberg.net/license). houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "Imitated." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a promised to bring home. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "'What, the red-headed man?' sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we wall." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive not within a twentieth part of the market price." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "And why?" have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. begin with, and I had not got mine yet." grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought "Entirely." heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "I will not look." hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement to-night?" I asked. look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual acted in my house last night?" lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her ourselves in the office." see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all instincts rose up against that laugh. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Precisely." of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "I think it very unlikely." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "You'll never persuade me to believe that." I nodded to show that I had heard. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." to go into your room and bar your shutters?" affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "'Yes, it was gone.' reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in if only as a check to my own memory." without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to photograph?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by once more for Briony Lodge. jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to spark where all is dark to me." "Stolen, then." and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found dramatic, in fact." "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long "Tired-looking or fresh?" note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with villagers almost as much as their master. "I was mad--insane." framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to events, Mr. Windibank!" Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and hour?' stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "And how did you find out?" for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I opened the door, and slipped through. little adventures." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey papers on the sundial.'" "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending results." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year at home. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's new acquaintance to Baker Street.