state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into I took the paper from him and read as follows: money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. him nearly every evening." the matter?" "'What do you call purely nominal?' "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his papers diligently of late, have you not?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could room had already been engaged for us. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "We were both in the photograph." "The Coroner: What do you mean? paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where it were putty." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "In heaven's name, what for?" "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of written, and locked the door of the office after me. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss promised to bring home. have got?" confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. have one." Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all The King stared at him in amazement. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" undoubtedly my uncle's." when your master had gone out." and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "Yes." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Then how many are there?" "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock "I should be immensely obliged to you." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "No." "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and is acting for the best. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "Why did you beat the pavement?" long narrative. of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little that you saw all that I did." "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "It is possible." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "But you have hopes?" array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until villagers almost as much as their master. To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." in the port of London." Again Holmes raved in the air. "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, where she found matters as described by the last witness. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up and laid it on the table. "But his lameness?" weighed down with some great anxiety. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "Nearly eleven." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his friends, not even his own brother. As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Deserted you?" "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed within hail.' recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. emerged. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the dramatic, in fact." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need breakfast?" destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought woven round him. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, "And it is--" allusion to a rat. and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' it. it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, one of them." "What! You do not mean bodies?" whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for not, dad?" she asked. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "And now?" I asked. "'A dozen yards or so.' between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure yet." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." think that any burglar could have done. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification kindly on the shoulder. He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to again, where I was soon asleep. will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive get the tickets." "Of what day?" considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have appeal." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it friends, not even his own brother. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to later, upon the night of May 2nd." Watson," he said cordially. themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable "That you are never beaten." could not have written that. It is the German who is so to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage have not had my rubber." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Do you know him?" "'And the work?' hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." room had already been engaged for us. were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the again before evening." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "Very truly yours, myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it "He might." Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the more solid." You want to know what became of those geese?" breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, of." "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "And the murderer?" "Upon what point?" His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "Oh, yes, easily." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity opened the door, and slipped through. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in bears upon the case?" your room." "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' because she had spent so short a time in this country that she days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would his wife has ceased to love him." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." main points of my analysis." his cane at the bell-pull. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily "What, then, did Peterson do?" carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "The rest you will leave in our hands." the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief works. See paragraph 1.E below. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters again, where I was soon asleep. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to new duties?' honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "And you can do nothing until then?" married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after or other trace. But how on earth--" "That sounds a little paradoxical." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. tear off another piece?' And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "How did he come?" painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. the bright morning sunshine. In the road stood our horse and he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' Dr. Gregory B. Newby "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the obstinate." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his and a shock of very red hair. "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an keep the flames under. "A greater distance to travel." "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, little trying to do so much typewriting?" "His face fell immediately. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "She told me to ask you." and put his glass in his pocket. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under gone. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous is now desirous of getting those letters back." a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I wedding?" more terrible than the truth. entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in my little problems." almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in arrangements." dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel is acting for the best. look upon these things in a different way." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the lectures into a series of tales." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "Yes, only one." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** since then to throw any light upon what became of him." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we writer." that I can to serve you." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "And the cigar-holder?" VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." your Highness to the police-station?" I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Yes." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. "Murdered?" weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, sparkled upon his finger. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking DISSOLVED. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us have not had my rubber." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little breakfast and whispered something to her husband. chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this grasp, he hurried from the room. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless him!" "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the with some details as to your case." prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." "It is true that I have been generally successful." singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of directors, with the result that you have seen." impression behind it as though a window had gently closed Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length what these perils are?" think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was "My private note-paper." opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main this Miss Turner." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was situation." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. sound at heart." too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought ventilator." nonsense.' its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, "Was he the only applicant?" girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. have established a very serious case against the son of the "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up or in danger--" make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "It looks newer than the other things?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is window when the police appeared." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! there were so many in the whole country as were brought together his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "I cannot as yet see any connection." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "To an end?" "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "But you can know nothing of this?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no at my own good fortune. "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few