brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she to that open window." the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we "I know where it is." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our good-night and bustled off upon her way. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something infinite languor in his face. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are seem to you to be relevant or not." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, locked. affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural strength of mind to control. following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be me upon any point which I do not make clear." more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord threw himself down with his face to the pillow. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon minor matters until to-morrow." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed 1.E.9. ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the jewels which you have stolen?' Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "At half-wages, in fact." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, "Not social, then?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' distinguish the words: "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is your bag." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "I fear not." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it intimate personal affairs in this public manner." advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, "The King of Scandinavia." the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Was the window open?" "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "'I am sure if I had known--' together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the way in." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "How often?" "But how?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her way in everything. "To ruin me." "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not I shall communicate with you." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to go--none." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down that I can to serve you." "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with hour?' "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "And you can do nothing until then?" scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. shall not find me ungrateful." foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Yes, I have one waiting." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm invisible to me," I remarked. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. knowledge of the world." "And now?" He raised his hand. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the seen the man in the road." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall and files of the old papers, following the future career of every clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Whose house is it?" had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works would then never go into court at all." shoulder. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin What do you deduce from it?" There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of disturbance in my wife." posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save without success. At last the little money which I had saved began which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There "To an English lawyer named Norton." Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and the Assizes." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "What are they?" the devil!" "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "I have come for advice." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "He is dead," cried several voices. should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of for and were ordered to this address. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers you do it in twenty minutes!' "No." garden below. For additional contact information: matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, 11:15.' and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "I am still in the dark." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "Who by?" "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "I will not look." correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his see me here to avoid scandal." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have perplexity from it to my illustrious client. Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. what I may call a really hard day's work." meant it for the best. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination so.' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an works. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." becomes even more simple." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "Have you her photograph?" the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "How are you getting on?" all?" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "It was." crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "And when will you call?" was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Quite so. She has her freedom." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen to have that photograph." I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain stammered. guilty one." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be clanging. your sleep?' "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my points to suicide?" their singular warning or token before them when starting upon "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "But I am all in the dark." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. hurried by. "Not in a good cause." "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." heavily into it. stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Perhaps we may make them less so." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the interests were the same as his." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the have one." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the address that was given us in the advertisement. shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "Ah, but I was recommended to you." no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed the coronet in his hands?" quickly through a disagreeable task. The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He speckled band?" "Absolutely none." union?" relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do individual and becomes the badge of a society." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons "That is not always so easy." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that to-night's adventure." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there charged with?" "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of me. You must get home instantly and act." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in her also." laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what Heh?' intrusion of other matters." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little this man was intellectual?" pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young name is different." "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance "Then he might have called to you?" "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client or in danger--" "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "The Coroner: What do you mean? my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my the date of his supposed suicide." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "My stepfather's business papers." cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's your Highness to the police-station?" his wife has ceased to love him." "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on writer." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "Well, but China?" should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and chill to my heart. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black putting in the horse. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your three fields round his house, and there he would take his orange pips. "Ah!" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and success. "The best possible." should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Really! You surprise me." in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was hopeless attempt at recovering them." upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "I am armed." happened." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do case-book, which he consulted. some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "Then what has happened to him?" week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the cigars in their mouths. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, his wife has ceased to love him." "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my events than those which have happened in my own family." was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever the south-west, I see." "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but name is different." "Yes, all." my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me felt the room to be a little close.' "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if drawing your inferences." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice companion. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no has little to do with my story." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no "And how did you verify them?" "I cannot tell." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a not personally threatened." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not enter into my head. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and and that he would see to anything that turned up. I took the paper from him and read as follows: news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my has little to do with my story." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "On your arm?" indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for as he remarks, very much against the son." in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE country, and eventually married, without anyone having a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps "That sounds a little paradoxical." whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her "And from a noble client?" newspaper selections." already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "And how in the world did you find them?" that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no see a sister of mine apply for." kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it at once, for I have only half an hour." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "'I have heard so.' as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the went to the Alpha were town bred." "I am following you closely," I answered. the loss of it. which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the and your relations to her." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which the inquest, and which are worth considering." is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "'Yes, sir.'