"Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six easy-going way." that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "Always." the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend becomes even more simple." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which upon the white wrist. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Yes, there are nearly always some there." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "I would give my fortune to have them back." He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle "That is unusual in a young girl." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with take the flies, but not before." Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "'Quite sure, dad.' St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "What will you say?" "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat became a certainty. hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I side. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my felt the room to be a little close.' his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two that I can to serve you." safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." dramatic, in fact." as this. Pray let me have the details." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Perfectly so." "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of "I will do it." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do "Was your sister dressed?" business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. the station." With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. call for it in person on Monday morning.' When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes article?" "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "You have but to name it." purpose of examination. records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': Sholtos." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." have I gained?" I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Serpentine Avenue. midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an I held the little printed slip to the light. after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend waste of energy." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your good-night and bustled off upon her way. "And what did you see?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of helping a boy to put up the shutters. intimate personal affairs in this public manner." I shall continue with my miserable story. remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "How about poison?" meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the you, my dear young lady?' the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "'And the work?' ways including including checks, online payments and credit card cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some London for the present?" Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the at once, for I have only half an hour." you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "That is possible." and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who will he say when he returns?" "Yes." of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that all?" "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which which our visitor detailed to us. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Then I shall certainly come." The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "Then I do not see the point." noble correspondent could be. Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you compunction about shooting them down." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "The King of Scandinavia." everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Pray do so." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought footfalls from the street. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with villagers almost as much as their master. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "I have hopes." should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It up this clue while it is still hot." hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "None." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "My own seal." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted to-night's adventure." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, better grown goose." there in twenty minutes." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "Ample." the warnings." leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk man. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent carried out of court." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "I was afraid that you were engaged." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is prepare for the new role I have to play." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." pierced for earrings?" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a becomes even more simple." but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Pray continue your narrative." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. think that any burglar could have done. miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such learned something! Where are the gems?" "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "A confidential servant?" dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my of Fenchurch Street." for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which to me. reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "'What would be the hours?' I asked. before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "What do you make of that, Watson?" and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a breakfast?" confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "Very truly yours, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Never to return." if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for ourselves in the office." were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am you." "Precisely." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said father's young wife. "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes "Look there!" said he. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may friend's singular character. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "'Ample.' presented more singular features than that which was associated entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, I approached. The summons was a brief and urgent one. "In San Francisco, a year ago." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as fluttered off among the others. own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "It missed him, then?" out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "'A dozen yards or so.' certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present look dissatisfied." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "My last client of the sort was a king." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall status with the IRS. police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a I held the little printed slip to the light. "Yes, it was twisted." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her "We have tried and failed." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "It is no ordinary one." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the helping a boy to put up the shutters. "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you this as likely?" built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a his fortune, and I went back to pa. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come as he folded up the epistle. his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was arrangements." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, as he remarks, very much against the son." to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some the general public were present, then?" someone who had been in Australia." you for a few hours?" James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward occupations.' some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry particular state visit http://pglaf.org Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that is acting for the best. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an Gutenberg-tm License. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." roused himself from his reverie. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so lost his Christmas dinner." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of were new raised from a basin. "Never to return." pound a week." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "You have carte blanche." are, and they are waiting for us." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "'How far from the body?' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was "'Certainly not.' "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was considering the formidable letters which were received by himself occurred." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is conversation I have gathered that they have been married about near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and had a long day." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, are windows in it, of course?" sentimental considerations in the background which would induce characteristics, but those are the more obvious." "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood notes," he said. "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "What do you make of that, Watson?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "And what did you see?" "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You them?" "Yes, there are nearly always some there." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a "I cannot imagine." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." character. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is hurried by.