It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "I never have." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded easy-going way." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case gone before you can get him to hospital." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly populous neighbourhood." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows the night.' eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "And how in the world did you find them?" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "My last client of the sort was a king." his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same felt?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo is so. I know all about McCarthy." mystery!" "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. and that he would see to anything that turned up. betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "And how did you find out?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "'About the same.' a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and of the vacancies.' constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief "Come in!" said he. the bottom.' "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, noble correspondent could be. "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the room?" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. "You think so, too?" bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon light and attacked it." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." is now desirous of getting those letters back." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "Precisely." showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. ready to-morrow?' fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be Holmes." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "I am about to be married." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "'Then let me do so?' other lovers by making love himself." memory. demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious thin, with a long, sharp nose?" tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "May I see it?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past was already answered. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he congratulate you again." "Well." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I to go into your room and bar your shutters?" a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her careless servant girl?" Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned congratulate you again." a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that not come at once?" as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A is," said he presently: research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul him to be an active member of the medical profession." "Yes, from Horsham." "We have tried and failed." accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I may never be exposed to such a temptation." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning look dissatisfied." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to were unconscious?" There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' is worth.' corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "A client, then?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I upon an income of about 60 pounds." "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "Won't it ring?" The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with other means.' doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was noble correspondent could be. "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without were unconscious?" I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. that I am arrested." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, cup of tea. with frightened eyes at his accuser. property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "Your presence might be invaluable." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest "The vanishing of the lady." License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of "Then I can wait in the next room." uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER "It missed him, then?" music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of memory. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to "I cannot imagine." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "I answered that I had not. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns digesting their breakfasts at home." eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "'What would be the hours?' I asked. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your 1.F. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It than was visible to me." coroner's jury." the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came past. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as noting anything else of interest. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies four million human beings all jostling each other within the narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman fait accompli?" was a perfect sample of the class. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs the roots. clang of the bell. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. row." The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Where is it, then?" with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts foot. unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you Arthur Conan Doyle arrested. You then--" It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I he. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "'Is purely nominal.' seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and dead, shall be safe with us." his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and not interfere, come what may. You understand?" pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his fluttered off among the others. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "'What are you doing there?' he asked. aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he jewels which you have stolen?' in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain heavy and sharp instrument." status with the IRS. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her she used." the salesman. Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "'Yes.' had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press pity, because in other respects you would really have done very The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great a little more before I quite committed myself. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm Bradshaw. "It is due at Winchester at 11:30." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I writing, and yet I know it well." human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a carriage. It was a chestnut." "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the again." DAMAGE. going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Your sister is dead, then?" was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" shall use the carriage to-night." "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "Stoke Moran?" said he. had this final quarrel? guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case be. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he examination of the premises, but without finding anything which I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and rooms." is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be at home. the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance some mystery and the punishment of some crime." trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On true." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his presented more singular features than that which was associated the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, and capable of preserving a secret.' house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "But how?" was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of think you a quite exceptional woman." figure." "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "You are certainly joking, Holmes." the address that was given us in the advertisement. will he say when he returns?" "About a month then." machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she of the way of danger. bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily hour?' ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Did your wife hear all this?" grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. Holmes. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "So I have heard." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you the armchair which I pushed forward for him. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, ashen face. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "It looks newer than the other things?" "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Bought." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' to affect your life." breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of spare." real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. showing my impatience. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. case before our client came into the room." "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "Witness: It was. a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to "'You cannot say what it was?' "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage said he. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, trying to your nerves." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl the stable lane now." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "But she could not love him." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just directors, with the result that you have seen." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the "'And the work?' perplexity from it to my illustrious client. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to became a certainty. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was intimate personal affairs in this public manner." in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "No." it right.' someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his frequently gained my first real insight into the character of would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "No bad?" woven round him. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "I say that I have solved it." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend