"Nor running a chance of arrest?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke clanging. was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an crime. of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative "Upon what point?" "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his what these perils are?" drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was developed." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "A client, then?" which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in the bed, and you in that chair." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the forbidden door. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "At what time?" you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 again." safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "By train from Waterloo." were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name without a word or a look. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of outside. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform will not take me long to tell. "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my case-book, which he consulted. "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, lost his Christmas dinner." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had "I cannot imagine." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the husband's writing, madam." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good I leave." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done "And I say east," said my patient. five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave been anything against him. He had for years been known as a fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to "Certainly." her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only "Now, then, what's the last entry?" I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening asked. rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do some city in a dream. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said friends, not even his own brother. "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his question you as to those details which seem to me to be most to-night?" I asked. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "Certainly." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the to surprise her." "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done bled considerably." to-night." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very ways of our fellow-men." said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep be sorry for having acted so harshly." description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the hour." "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, might help us?" would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend quickly through a disagreeable task. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the forbidden door. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my pound a week." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger so.' my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, His smile broadened. for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet power." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "Ten will be early enough." connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part interests were the same as his." "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I to-night?' however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running You can understand that this register and diary may implicate country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, that he has suffered." knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, weapon." became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I be sorry for having acted so harshly." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "How did you trace it, then?" "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did that I am arrested." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which front of me. Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "But I have heard all that you have heard." that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern answered with a sidelong glance. at a side door. have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low was feeling which was the fattest.' in his hands." "That you are never beaten." one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go writing, and yet I know it well." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the during which he might have communicated with his friend the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a bare slabs of marble. the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper rooms." "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a done what I asked you, Jones?" "Yes, certainly." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was "And what did you learn from him?" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and meant it for the best. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big been with you?" black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "I have solved it." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "But how could you guess what the motive was?" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire your most interesting statement." the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it strange features which were associated with the two crimes which known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "It looks newer than the other things?" have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day off." Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new call for protection in the marriage market, for the present black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Stoke Moran?" said he. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable definite end. in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to Sholtos." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see sneer upon his pale face. is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to showing my impatience. yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the events, Mr. Windibank!" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "The doctor?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened purpose of examination. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "Why did you pick him?" collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "'And what are they worth?' I asked. considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to his eyes and forehead. in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Chief Executive and Director the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "'Is purely nominal.' Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the opened the door, and slipped through. values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send way: are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "But you would not advise me to refuse?" her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "Absolutely?" crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "The best possible." even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "It surprised me." "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact "Where, then?" lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "How did that help you?" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." your bag." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "The Coroner: What do you mean? sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business chemical work which was so dear to him. plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I "Here?" look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had said I. room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love client, rising. mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "Will you bet, then?" writing, and yet I know it well." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a place of silver." through." great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far should be taken.' which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. back to my heart. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had hour." salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All rose-bushes. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may already been minutely examined." that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to appointment with me for six o'clock?" my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of excitement. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. past. lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "The Coroner: What do you mean? unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian lids now and glanced across at his visitor. over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of commonplaces of existence. If we could fly out of that window loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Never to return." affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' or other trace. But how on earth--" "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "And that is--" I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "'I have heard so.' possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of remarked. clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as "My stepfather's business papers." of your young ladies.' more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a do.' has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. union?" "Very. But will he see it?" seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" whatever might befall. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' thought that she would have been so carried away." "It is very kind of you." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, "What do you mean?"