town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. opened the door, and slipped through. which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "Precisely." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "But how will you look?" "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society jewels which you have stolen?' strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He true." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout I held the little printed slip to the light. into the room. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. will not take me long to tell. The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the speckled band?" Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "'You cannot say what it was?' that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "How about poison?" This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a The telegram which we eventually received came late one night the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which fatally injured? Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with himself. points to suicide?" enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. address. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour here and I will read it to you: It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend DAMAGE. together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling a room. past. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that "Here?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as place no limit on the sum I may draw." comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. train from Paddington which would bring you there at about "And what then?" week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Were they all fastened this morning?" and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get society." in this note: colonel looking down at me. against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his felt the room to be a little close.' "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" http://gutenberg.net/license). A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" the ceiling. "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the there when the Rucastles went away." When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The some water from a caraffe. Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the children over to America with him, so that I found myself without had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a directly by questioning you." gone before you can get him to hospital." thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you triumphant cloud from his cigarette. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured lumber-room." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to vault. keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life if only as a check to my own memory." remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "In the cells." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the presented which may be striking and bizarre without being arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Certainly." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came "What! You do not mean bodies?" delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small or other trace. But how on earth--" "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love your troubles." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were was shining brightly. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his This is what he says: assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "That also I could fathom." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his south, for the country is more deserted there." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Dark enough and sinister enough." the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the she to prove their authenticity?" have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which even so self-evident a thing as that." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "What do you make of that, Watson?" 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a quite distinctive." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round the child." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "And your father? Did you tell him?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." tied." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with "And sit in the dark?" "Nothing?" house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and of fine shops and stately business premises that they really never will be, entirely cleared up. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the from you?" villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to was the fact that his father should, according to his account, his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists that before taking the final step I should like to submit the furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His we went to search for him, face downward in a little His smile broadened. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "The landlord of the Alpha." case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with Mrs. Toller serenely. my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of and the colonel ushered me in. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his me. plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very writer." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists through." cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' which are rolled in Rotterdam." along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "Then he might have called to you?" nothing with him." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Seven!" I answered. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, tightly behind him. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or you came in." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he been with you?" "And now?" I asked. distinguish the words: London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he looking up at the numbers of the houses." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." habit of advancing money.' "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he colour had been driven from his face. back to my heart. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, breakfast and whispered something to her husband. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my appeal." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I October 9, 1890. adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had have established a very serious case against the son of the fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we to tackle the facts." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of the driver. right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. manager. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. with you alone." acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary possible that we could bring him back to her? at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if death." built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do hair?' of them has the shutters up.' was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. past. some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he I have it here in my museum." "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the within hail.' for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great some place of shelter and let the county police know what has imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you of this gang." simple cases which are so extremely difficult." back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would make me his representative both with the servants and with the upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Of Friday, June 19th." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I other means.' as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander seen the man in the road." not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend death." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. "I never have." unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted too. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of least a most suspicious remark." and capable of preserving a secret.' even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Then how many are there?" until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and the room while you explain this matter?" written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "At what time?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, during which he might have communicated with his friend the horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder beg that you will break it off." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "Proceed, then." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "And how did you find out?" connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is our word." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Breckinridge is his name." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, tied." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." the iron safe, which he closed upon it. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between was a lad." does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue "But what is it you wish?" would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "It is a murder, then?" passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "Pray continue your narrative." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "But she could not love him." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "None." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a said I. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now "The landlord of the Alpha." solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." "'A dozen yards or so.' over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "And how did you verify them?" Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Pray do so." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid see me here to avoid scandal." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and said he. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural pound a week." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the thin legs towards the fire. leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their conclusions. "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'Entirely.' from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the could not account in any way for the presence of the missing its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" fait accompli?" for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He remarked. a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something your troubles." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, works. See paragraph 1.E below. it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the