of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With all-comprehensive glances. "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands Farm upon the left." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect look upon these things in a different way." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "'You cannot say what it was?' The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way morning." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and interests were the same as his." has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must chambers. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "Not yet." he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an away in different directions, and I went off to make my own access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "At what time?" some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Was there a secret marriage?" work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked round and wave him away like that.' outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? character. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. said he. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't mystery may be cleared along those lines." note?" its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "If so, much may have happened between." passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is foot. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away words came to my lips. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "So I am. Very much so." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken over with notes and figures. I have it here in my museum." more solid." "No, I am descending." and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal address. my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip room. wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But standing smiling on the door-step. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which you?" disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think to arrive at through this?" am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Very much so." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them "Yes." to tell." the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was important." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of village inn over there?" right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "What then?" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "And you thought he was pulled back?" the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "Ample." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time Lestrade of Scotland Yard." of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "The Coroner: What do you mean? asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I tell him that I know him to be innocent." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of together. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No and the whole place is in a blaze." unclasping of his long thin hands. when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "Yes." away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in again on its way. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was lost nothing by them." material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as observed. be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." is worth.' As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking whatever might befall. Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Yes?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see tear off another piece?' "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east letters?" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "No, my brougham is waiting." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "I am all attention, madam." flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage to have that photograph." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with stammered. "Will you bet, then?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for better grown goose." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "I will get her to show me." lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his visitors." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, fasten all the windows?" produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Witness: I must still refuse. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project door?" he died? so far?" "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he mysterious end." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is entirely lost his self-respect." the night.' firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "But we can't all be." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. he bowed and left the room without another word. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and telegram would bring me down to your help." "About a month then." feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you "And why in hopes?" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the the one as in the other." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the chair. "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone system of imprisonment?" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your chambers. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons other, as fresh and trim as possible. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." drove away. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "How do you know, then?" "What is it, then--a fire?" incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "And the murderer?" at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "How did he come?" The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and place no limit on the sum I may draw." to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' of the way of danger. "I have hopes." "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' mystery may be cleared along those lines." been shamefully used." the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "9th. McCauley cleared. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to upon an income of about 60 pounds." Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but "I am about to be married." nice household for a young lady." to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually weighed down with some great anxiety. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you Mary, has deserted me." Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" with the outside air!" "By no means." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "'Ample.' "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." the window, rose as we entered. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so bird I ate is country bred." "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it hereditary King of Bohemia." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" yet." he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back not, dad?" she asked. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it and inquire as to the address." was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind cheerful." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of it were putty." to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it is so. I know all about McCarthy." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with garden below. "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "No." shall not find me ungrateful." wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "When did she vanish, then?" seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "I have hopes." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "How are you getting on?" see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of off." prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to despaired of." at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these really the only notable feature about the thing." yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "You have but to name it." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to comes from the middle window." Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Who was the criminal, then?" in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son followed. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you gigantic client. because she had spent so short a time in this country that she rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman unclasping of his long thin hands. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Imitated." to talk it over. she might be summoned. dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, writers could invent nothing more crude." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the it." IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB it were putty." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him vault. We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical locked. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal