offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of "'Is purely nominal.' outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a mysterious end." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "I will get her to show me." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. that you wished to speak to me?' himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a best detective that ever lived. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through Chief Executive and Director you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "Was he the only applicant?" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. dramatic, in fact." "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful she to prove their authenticity?" acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged populous neighbourhood." received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt I think that I could be of assistance to you." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "None." "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a felt the room to be a little close.' "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "You will not go there first?" in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore "BALLARAT." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" tied." struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I Chief Executive and Director hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried to have that photograph." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands he. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. amused." "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "Murdered?" "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "'In my own bureau.' Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from and inquire as to the address." tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered drove away. in one or two places in England?' "It was." to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to constraint." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. people don't know." goes." tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to Young McCarthy must be got off, however." pictures, libraries, or plate. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought touch that coronet?' another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from weary and pale-looking. face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs if I call to-morrow?" "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could leaning back in his chair. "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of I held the little printed slip to the light. Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. thought that she would have been so carried away." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I read it out to me." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his "'I have heard so.' street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "It came here." "I was afraid that you were engaged." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "And why?" "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What which should have the effect of calling the attention of the "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" examine." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my maiden herself was most instructive." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "But he might be a bachelor." appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" been deceived." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "He might." "'Entirely.' for securing the situation." "I don't believe it." "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "What! Had he lost his wife?" pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "At half-wages, in fact." back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary shall use the carriage to-night." "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon not come at once?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." American. Then who could this American be, and why should he 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words Miss Holder?" other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking when you have done it." think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, "'I have already given you my word.' is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." whereabouts. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he "I am about to be married." and capable of preserving a secret.' in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. habit of advancing money.' "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and this Miss Turner." seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "Is he quiet?" together. "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "I cannot imagine." we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here letters?" putting in the horse. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "And on what day did he meet his death?" once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but think you a quite exceptional woman." looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." at once, for I have only half an hour." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it salesman. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "You think so, too?" "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove what do you think they found in the pockets?" "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save the very morning of the wedding." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. I took the paper from him and read as follows: keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The Serpentine Avenue. which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "That was it, sir." "No legal papers or certificates?" was a lad." "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, "And the cigar-holder?" iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding "It is no ordinary one." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal be there in time for your coming." the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, "What will you do, then?" "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, chambers. "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "You have compromised yourself seriously." back into the street. all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself fishes. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' was shining brightly. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told off." to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a despair." which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were meant it for the best. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith Eyford." had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are wall." disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "One?" which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, me upon any point which I do not make clear." had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these emerged. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is "My private note-paper." the Red-headed League." was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "Yes, they were peculiar boots." thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "'Not at all. I only doubt--' by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Yes, at the mines." circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I bachelor.' I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." the bottom.' I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in "Tired-looking or fresh?" across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and occupations.' "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek which our visitor detailed to us. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" this man was intellectual?" feature." of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "'Yes, it was gone.' and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I "Yes, but only for you and me." him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "One of the highest in England." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the humiliation." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and that there was nothing in it, after all." "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then American. Then who could this American be, and why should he peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Did your wife hear all this?" He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even have one." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain experiences." this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for mystery." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "The rest you will leave in our hands." controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge possible that we could bring him back to her? that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with wedding?" but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached question," said Holmes, smiling. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Certainly." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project certainly not very gracious." knowledge of the world." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with "Texas, I think." Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." coat-tails." round and wave him away like that.' to a more successful conclusion." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen.