to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "And you don't know his address?" us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward awaited us upon the table. 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry visitors." "How many? I don't know." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of License. You must require such a user to return or golden eyeglasses. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Yes, that is the Crown." first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers away to you." "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of seen the man in the road." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the approach us with offers to donate. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a You can understand that this register and diary may implicate jewels which you have stolen?' hour." "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the your bag." the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of better grown goose." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that "I cannot imagine." "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down the south-west, I see." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched room had already been engaged for us. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to Countess of Morcar's?" if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which remarked. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per soul! here is her carriage at the door." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the you." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker thought that she would have been so carried away." neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon least a most suspicious remark." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some "But how did you gain them?" to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had her also." "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of of this gang." in him." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his His smile broadened. congratulate you again." settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest very old mansion. which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "That is not always so easy." never came back." follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and him, that man would not have given me such complete information above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "What have you done?" asked Holmes. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Was the window open?" "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know "The best possible." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" and laid it on the table. "From his hat?" before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was money should be paid at once.' in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, that I can to serve you." And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "The doctor?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who again before evening." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I locked. down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my I approached. the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with to me. a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "And from a noble client?" "Certainly, madam." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "I cannot as yet see any connection." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "'Never,' said I. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the you." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and felt the room to be a little close.' "Where did you address your letters, then?" "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter forecastle of an emigrant ship. between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would just called myself is not exactly my own." "Of what day?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the go--none." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the enough to aid us in our search." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "And what did you see?" to-night?' make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far were unconscious?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely I think that I could be of assistance to you." up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an shoulder; "he's all right." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and lost his Christmas dinner." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "Perhaps we may make them less so." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he fat-encircled eyes. out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and to have that photograph." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the infinite languor in his face. "But to whom?" "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "Deserted you?" "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at him to be an active member of the medical profession." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A his fortune, and I went back to pa. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you very peculiar words of the dying woman?" at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, paper in the air. "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the the Red-headed League." police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded "No?" town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." asked with his eyes open. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the disturbance in my wife." then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his London for the present?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, drawing your inferences." "But how?" have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "Where did he live, then?" hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. just called myself is not exactly my own." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "How did he come?" passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if This is what he says: standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "The gentleman I describe." "Not in the least." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "I never have." I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply upon an income of about 60 pounds." the matter." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "The doctor?" "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez It may be so in this case, also." straighten it?" in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view upon the sideboard." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." absorbing." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, ceremony." morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried fait accompli?" strong reason behind." hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Well?" made his money." such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "Do you go out much in society?" eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she Sholtos." secret." having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In that I may have something better before very many minutes are into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This danger is over." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to there when the Rucastles went away." the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was said he. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "We must have a cab." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the upon an income of about 60 pounds." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed round with crates and massive boxes. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "Stolen." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not of the way of danger. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "You have the photograph?" not personally threatened." "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, outside." where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this back alive. touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their country, and eventually married, without anyone having a those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my "Witness: Nothing definite. that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what 1.E.9. an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out that you wished to speak to me?' above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "And on what day did he meet his death?" let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns bill, which interests me deeply." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret there were one or two details which were new to me. But the governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "But how did you gain them?" on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "No. His orders were to stay in the house." "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would papers must be those that are destroyed.' leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "'I am sure that I do not know.' maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter said I. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the hurried by. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his matters immensely." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. "So I have heard." clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "Witness: I must still refuse. during that time.' produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me Countess of Morcar's?" "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so