"It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or that before taking the final step I should like to submit the daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the in a friendly supper." never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "And your father? Did you tell him?" state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire bill, which interests me deeply." fait accompli?" and no precautions can guard against." Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the my secret was safe in his possession. the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "It is very clear." with her." father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking Literary Archive Foundation "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my outsides of the windows. "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' had picked up in the wood. "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, records." in his hands." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you events than those which have happened in my own family." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it daring than any effort of the imagination." brandy and water within his reach. judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "This photograph!" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and promised to bring home. bill, which interests me deeply." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, chair. jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot and capable of preserving a secret.' money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what God! What an exposure! What can I do?" discontent upon his features. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I washing it down with a long draught of water. you?' "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable the room while you explain this matter?" which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was woman." "But I am all in the dark." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "None." money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend XII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE COPPER BEECHES "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "In the cells." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. already referred to. Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" you, my dear young lady?' the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "No bad?" you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "By no means." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "'I shall certainly be there.' in my life." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to right! Sit down and let us talk it over." is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Yes." recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social with her." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my has little to do with my story." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned upon the sideboard." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." politicians who had been sent down from the North. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a or in danger--" 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and works. See paragraph 1.E below. quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would friends, not even his own brother. It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry despair." sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably upon an income of about 60 pounds." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "'Stolen!' he cried. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought chemical work which was so dear to him. memory. assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "But not more so than I to find you." "That sounds a little paradoxical." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "I should wish to." madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "'Entirely.' some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "'What would be the hours?' I asked. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to and put his glass in his pocket. then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had to-morrow." himself to tell his story. "And why in hopes?" passage and a tap at the door. "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and instituted." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and there is a decided draught." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Yes." makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for a good hundred miles off by now." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies to his chemical studies. however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, annoyance, but no jest. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "'I am sure that I do not know.' the coroner come to?" "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed if she died from some sudden fright." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "'I am sure if I had known--' I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional breakfast." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the a very grave face. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap things are very often connected not with the larger but with the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed Edgeware Road. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A writer." gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes persecution?" we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. fashion which was peculiar to him. and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again "One of the highest in England." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Was the window open?" "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "I was certainly surprised to find you there." Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is about here speaks of his kindness to him." Foundation stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "I see many objections to any such theory." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way rat could hardly pass through." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull him, that man would not have given me such complete information that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful tell me that you intended to go into harness." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "'No, I know no one in these parts.' outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what guilty one." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Dr. Becher's." sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek it. next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had Dr. Gregory B. Newby the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, the wood-work with which the chamber was panelled. Finally he "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "It is his hat." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson photograph?" wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, best detective that ever lived. "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness "I know where it is." "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Yes. He waved his hands." through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "Where did he live, then?" another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not least a fellow-countryman. once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of laugh and put his lips to my ear. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Breckinridge is his name." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb and files of the old papers, following the future career of every our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread father's place of business?" us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in observed. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Which surely he restored to their owner?" rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge light and attacked it." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales following enigmatical notices: acted in my house last night?" at home. "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "'Very good.' in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Was there a secret marriage?" photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "That is it on the dressing-table." doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace article?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was asked with his eyes open. manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about "In which, sir?" was a loud and authoritative tap. the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day again before evening." I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I had died away into the silence from which it rose. contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. and inquire as to the address." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the and I shall be with you presently." "To an end?" was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had in the dead of the night?' ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and way: have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "And you don't know his address?" "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and directors have had misgivings upon the subject." one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or tension within him. post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable particular state visit http://pglaf.org "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "No." our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "'I am sure that I do not know.' "I shall be delighted." "One of the highest in England." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet know what is wrong with it.' "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "The Coroner: What do you mean? had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in back into the street. "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. must compliment you." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious it. are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the What do you deduce from it?" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is man. daring than any effort of the imagination." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent present." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes