visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "Ah!" "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and enough to aid us in our search." just called myself is not exactly my own." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary friends, not even his own brother. "I am in hopes that she does." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little posted to-day." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father key turn in the lock." off." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "Deserted you?" "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "There is the writing." "Who by?" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how in darkness. envelope. cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door direction." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "It looks newer than the other things?" "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up my room." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question is four-and-twenty." air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent I approached. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather have not had my rubber." cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the dear old homesteads?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she Surrey." stammered. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been entirely devoid of interest." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Very. But will he see it?" fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we be. looking up at the numbers of the houses." chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" "In which, sir?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the putting in the horse. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, which was all perfectly true. gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be I think that I could be of assistance to you." father's young wife. 1.F. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it some place of shelter and let the county police know what has to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "'Most admirably.' minor matters until to-morrow." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "A confidential servant?" for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing asked. edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "'Yes, sir.' you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for electronic works reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from where Mr. Fordham shows you.' The police have openly confessed that they can at present make "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right "Was there a secret marriage?" "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this carried out of court." of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "Where to?" Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as had died away into the silence from which it rose. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "It was an hour's good drive." come either from the window or the door. My attention was standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. 1.E.9. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which her also." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, of your young ladies.' steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker used to be." "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No which it had come upon my father." society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "Pray tell us what has happened to you." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "Look there!" said he. the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "Where, then, is my wife?" depend upon your compliance." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Does that suggest anything?" results." small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, drove away. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only said he at last. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable of receipt of the work. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable Pope's Court. as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature you came in." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy Doctor, of the paper and the date." for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "But how?" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said hand, madam?" "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the than was visible to me." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The tell them apart.' poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It what these perils are?" "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, fattened it expressly for you.' at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and the very letters. But what is this written above them?' may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, and capable of preserving a secret.' without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the have one." "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His business came to an end." walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It interests were the same as his." and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." eavesdroppers?' think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy III. was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an tassel actually lying upon the pillow. "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "But you were on a friendly footing?" that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in colour had been driven from his face. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." you." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "That's no good." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Stoke Moran?" said he. carpenter." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never me. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "How did that help you?" "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Always." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' "Of Friday, June 19th." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of "'And the work?' was used.' The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in down from London to inquire more deeply into it." go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for ways of our fellow-men." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite His smile broadened. tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was written. small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and the inner apartment." suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "'And the work?' clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him lips." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. begun to whiten, even as mine has." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his "What then?" quite distinctive." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the that?' Lestrade of Scotland Yard." you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of of." "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, locked." in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "By all means." "'What are you doing there?' he asked. before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am the coroner come to?" As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst John Swain, of St. Augustine. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue room?" "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending writers could invent nothing more crude." the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. "On the contrary, your statement is singularly lucid." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from his eyes and forehead. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at and have this put in the evening papers." remarked. discontent upon his features. man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had system of imprisonment?" "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my digesting their breakfasts at home." dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "But the mystery?" had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" indeed happy." "The landlord of the Alpha." "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between Street. As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk friend's singular character. Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "And what did you see?" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "I cannot say that I have." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "In which, sir?" of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a use an arc-and-compass breastpin." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who "No." impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his "He must guard himself, for he may find that there is someone Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait peculiar to him. The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's so.' his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "That is unusual in a young girl." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. drove away. "Yes, at the mines." pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "What have you done?" asked Holmes. then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months know what is wrong with it.' His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several that the gas is not laid on in his house?" Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow "Absolutely?" of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Yes, that is the Crown." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered,