the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "And how in the world did you find them?" "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." seven miles from Eyford Station.' For additional contact information: "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he DAMAGE. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "What!" he roared. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet of." to-night's adventure." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with IS you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of 1.F. "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet individual and becomes the badge of a society." the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has to have been novel and of interest." not use it unless it is absolutely needed." of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "'Ample.' "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "There are none." begun to whiten, even as mine has." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down "'I am sure that I do not know.' in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a woman who has had her own way to make in the world. over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the "Yes." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider what I may call a really hard day's work." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well "Yes, sir." "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after memory. fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "A greater distance to travel." green of the new foliage. go back?" indeed which he could not unravel. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There strong and stiff." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a drawing your inferences." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." but preventing her from injuring another. "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and article?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of you." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Tired-looking or fresh?" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "And Miss Sutherland?" me. explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 been with you?" bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at absorbing." to-night." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "He is dead," cried several voices. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked ill-usage at the hands of fortune. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was neither fascinating nor artistic." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, at my remark. "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to "Really! You surprise me." was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all remarked. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the and the colonel ushered me in. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of unclasping of his long thin hands. "Tired-looking or fresh?" Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "Yes." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "'In my own bureau.' somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we For additional contact information: He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been hardly wander." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "I see many objections to any such theory." that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, extraordinary contortions. '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "It is a murder, then?" conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, "No, distinctly professional." flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Thank you. Pray proceed." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and "Frequently." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he started for the Temple to see my husband. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." begin with, and I had not got mine yet." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the business came to an end." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the is worth.' a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known lumber-room." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "But he might be a bachelor." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he ran thus: I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few everything which you would wish to know." "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "It is possible." the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and Holmes. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "You forget that I know nothing about it." over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than coat-tails." the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master from you?" license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them was a loud and authoritative tap. could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that congenial hunt. "I cannot tell." a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "It looks newer than the other things?" in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Street. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to "Do you know him?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who bill, which interests me deeply." tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "And Miss Sutherland?" settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "No bad?" "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness extraordinary contortions. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and will not take me long to tell. standing smiling on the door-step. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very assist you in forming an opinion." not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," address. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by him to be an active member of the medical profession." marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous emerged. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill daring than any effort of the imagination." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, papers." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. the warnings." American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through God! What an exposure! What can I do?" "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he business." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. yet." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "And what did you see?" "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the not as remarkable as your advertisement." the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent back alive. young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his charged with?" Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "But how?" "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Seven!" I answered. the one as in the other." difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Deserted you?" broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was not, dad?" she asked. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal fatally injured? The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss name is different." certainly do as you advise." hereditary King of Bohemia." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "I shall most certainly do so." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off front of the hall door has given its name to the place. one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Well, some hundreds of times." difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white notes," he said. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "I answered that I had not. concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "Ah!" "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that answer." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid for the market.' come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his who was a member of your goose club." give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "But how?" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these had a long day." member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming guilty one." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." Literary Archive Foundation push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my *** START: FULL LICENSE *** Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of test if we have an answer to our advertisement." of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put "Her father is very rich?" from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "What will you say?" the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. investigation." "Have you it here?" black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my some city in a dream. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "'Quite sure, dad.' "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "You forget that I know nothing about it." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "We must sit without light. He would see it through the burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I have one." "Perfectly so." and wait." Project Gutenberg-tm works. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, business." became a certainty. It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of said I. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself could gather together that I was able to avert another public "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position sound at heart." and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be "No, my brougham is waiting." "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. him. Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. impression behind it as though a window had gently closed little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with McCarthy's innocence. floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in "An accident, I presume?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "What! a murderous attack?" higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. as he remarks, very much against the son." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "The Coroner: What do you mean? considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of and your relations to her." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled prepare for the new role I have to play." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "'Ample.' misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate disappearance of the bride.'" Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you