DAMAGE. "I will get her to show me." "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "Whose house is it?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so be there in time for your coming." and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Of Friday, June 19th." fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this business matters.' enough to aid us in our search." man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his hands. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary some city in a dream. against a man in the prime of life?" last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I the Red-headed League." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and standing smiling on the door-step. an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, and a shock of very red hair. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away in a friendly supper." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and to-night." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. to-night?" I asked. our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," me what he had done with the three missing stones. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the the window, rose as we entered. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "And you thought he was pulled back?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you upon the white wrist. "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "There are none." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you pity, because in other respects you would really have done very Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable entirely lost his self-respect." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it young Openshaw's." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land What do you deduce from it?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. opened a pocket-book and took out a note. other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." fear." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my had this final quarrel? "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." of Fenchurch Street." face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and as noiselessly as she had come. "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" appeared upon the scene." was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in throat." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "Then how many are there?" side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the present." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps as noiselessly as she had come. large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. feature." Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not together. instincts rose up against that laugh. "No." go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he brought there to personate someone, and the real person is It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three "Do you know him?" in his power. Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into pictures, libraries, or plate. "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you disappearance of these gems?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "'Entirely.' pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of someone who had been in Australia." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let pierced for earrings?" Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged coat-tails." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his populous neighbourhood." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "Of what day?" "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "My dear Holmes!" should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. colonel looking down at me. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his in a friendly supper." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "'Ten to two.' vanished into the darkness. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a "She told me to ask you." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." notes," he said. "I am in hopes that she does." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I roused himself from his reverie. country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which been." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted entirely devoid of interest." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "A client, then?" doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she wedding?" Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "I should be immensely obliged to you." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have During two years I have had three consultations and one small in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a Edgeware Road. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, more terrible than the truth. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the it." nonsense.' of receipt of the work. "Then I shall certainly come." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are crime. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot "Not him." "From his hat?" stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "BALLARAT." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a DISSOLVED. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "My photograph." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a awaited us upon the table. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "My stepfather's business papers." that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another the morning and make my own way in the world.' if I call to-morrow?" this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in were unconscious?" "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you cheerful." very morning of my second wedding." October 9, 1890. any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time the stones. blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as had no one to advise her at such a crisis." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the her also." "Is he quiet?" were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, have got?" shaken than I had ever seen him. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is "And when will you call?" feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger "The Coroner: What do you mean? dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am Mary, has deserted me." "The Coroner: What do you mean? as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from your room." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "You have compromised yourself seriously." really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "Stolen, then." jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "He said too much." Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, our word." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Dirty?" "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the manager. my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "Stoke Moran?" said he. point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform strength in the others." "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to "The doctor?" one or two very singular points about this room. For example, to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and in the hope of finding them." beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more "Certainly." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "I say that I have solved it." breakfast." did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "Why did you pick him?" and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, in the port of London." He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "You know me, then?" find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "His face fell immediately. or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy not come at once?" of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since have not had my rubber." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John the stones. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, invisible to me," I remarked. and capable of preserving a secret.' "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, wanted for ourselves." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said Does that suggest anything?" "Have you it here?" them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found goes." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "I am still in the dark." him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "'Yes, sir.' "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of behind me. All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's as he folded up the epistle. "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "And help." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, at once, for I have only half an hour." ways of our fellow-men." Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. the inner apartment." though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you tell me that you intended to go into harness." public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know seen the man in the road." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "How can you tell that?" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. back into the street. in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "He said that you could solve anything." my little problems." studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and ordinary clothes on?" short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "'What, the red-headed man?' must be when I saw the door open.' "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to more solid." this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it the coroner come to?" perplexity from it to my illustrious client. The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really colonel looking down at me. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, there when the Rucastles went away." blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "And when will you call?" unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" Holmes rather sternly. clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking