"Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "And what then?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. "What will you do, then?" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' "Quite so." maid will bring up your coffee." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which "I am about to be married." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at chair. "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "From his hat?" right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she him!" are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' been." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "'It is locked up,' I answered. was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on from you?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A there has been an enclosure here!" drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "That was it, sir." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. "I am following you closely," I answered. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable distance from the station, and there we found the young lady 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our the morning and make my own way in the world.' envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend the so-precious time, but come!' noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I again before evening." outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with invisible to me," I remarked. "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who III. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, as noiselessly as she had come. "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, head. So long, then!" young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. extraordinary contortions. "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in this as likely?" know that the truth is known." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom digesting their breakfasts at home." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the felt?" people don't know." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing morning." "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though examine." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. "No, I think that I'll take it." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally The note was undated, and without either signature or address. little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the trifles." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "But your client--" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no next day. "We were both in the photograph." sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, overpowering excitement and concern. whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the like that before?" Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "Has he come with you to-night?" "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is call the police, let the police find what they can.' he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most annoyance, but no jest. Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last instituted." screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as sake, don't!" of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and money should be paid at once.' some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, it right.' him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private locked. "I beg pardon." "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the third from London." she might be summoned. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to of receipt of the work. misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in behind me. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "But who is he?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right figure." more solid." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and stepfather?" "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do a good hundred miles off by now." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" just called myself is not exactly my own." o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Henry Baker is a member." III. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." answer." unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "One of his hands." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, of his shoulders. "'Never,' said I. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men that he has suffered." here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by conceal it?" nonsense.' "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. companion. cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "It goes to the housekeeper's room." golden eyeglasses. depend upon my doing so.' take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our miles off. the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "I say it is." "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire him to be an active member of the medical profession." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the pound a week." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between his eyes and forehead. bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Do you receive much company?" he asked. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by photograph?" copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were "Yes, there are nearly always some there." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." opened the door, and slipped through. "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight away to you." there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Stolen." "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a I shall communicate with you." not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "To an end?" or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "You are hungry," I remarked. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the she has been waylaid. There has been no result." laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a money should be paid at once.' diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "The rest you will leave in our hands." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was His name is Francis Prosper." weigh very heavily upon my conscience." "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning acquaintance?" and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which the armchair which I pushed forward for him. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Here?" and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin if she died from some sudden fright." "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see public press." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business subject to the trademark license, especially commercial in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is children over to America with him, so that I found myself without the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "You have compromised yourself seriously." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Arthur Conan Doyle "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Well." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "Then, how do you know?" leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did if only as a check to my own memory." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said questioning and rather startled gaze. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his your co-operation." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, geese which you supplied to the Alpha." teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." get the tickets." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "You heard nothing yourself last night?" questionable one." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "Ample." smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "You have carte blanche." maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, test if we have an answer to our advertisement." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "No, my brougham is waiting." old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a Mary, has deserted me." the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "Why serious?" understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project and it need not interfere very much with one's other jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting than to us. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. remarked. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "They are typewritten," I remarked. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was swore that no one else had been in the front room during the in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "But he might be a bachelor." "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "I am armed." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew back alive. "And did you observe any change in her then?" urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to asked. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "Yes." your equipment. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "My dear Holmes!" the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look power." Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" speckled band?" in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned to affect your life." arrested. You then--" through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Only as much as we can deduce." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has allusion to a rat. in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "I cannot say that I have." invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another three fields round his house, and there he would take his sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "Which are?" "Precisely." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "'As governess?' sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without may never be exposed to such a temptation." Holmes' face clouded over. frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" examination of the premises, but without finding anything which ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us back alive. once more to my work. "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of