official police." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a there were one or two details which were new to me. But the "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Certainly, madam." "The Cedars?" THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to Watson," he said cordially. locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are subject to the trademark license, especially commercial Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It in my life." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to had a long day." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "No." Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, to-morrow." "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to so.' the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "And how did you find out?" As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "The doctor?" "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face question. tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her me. You must get home instantly and act." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "My Mary? Impossible!" to where he stood hid behind the curtain. such attractions and accomplishments?' tension within him. freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest "He slept on the premises." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in "Yes, that is the Crown." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him narrative." straighten it?" the so-precious time, but come!' far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg now. It seems that there had been some informality about their the little opening for the ventilator is." do.' groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." "Entirely." very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch points to suicide?" "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the lover he would have placed himself in a false position. He never IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me such attractions and accomplishments?' more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this infinite languor in his face. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of rooms." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the other, as fresh and trim as possible. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen "But how will you look?" other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for "'Never,' said I. outside. nice household for a young lady." anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire works. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "To an English lawyer named Norton." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with leaning back in his chair. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "My dear Holmes!" her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "Only as much as we can deduce." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in over here." straighten it?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, the best of training." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate congratulate you again." "'Where to?' just called myself is not exactly my own." answered with a sidelong glance. flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "'Is purely nominal.' "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the coat-tails." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. persecution?" instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told "'You doubt its value?' he asked. second." mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, very old mansion. fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third point our research must commence, and we will begin it by phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project Stoke Moran." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "I came to find a friend." a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may were wasted." we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we note?" furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was out." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "I cannot tell." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "ARAT," I read. inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "'I am sure that I do not know.' "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than unpleasant couple, but fortunately I spend most of my time in the see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third next day. chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I handed it to him. cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from forehead. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any the inner apartment." "A greater distance to travel." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in both be extremely obliged.' "Then he might have called to you?" "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott forbidden door. "And sit in the dark?" "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the about here speaks of his kindness to him." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my said he. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban everything which you would wish to know." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." helping a boy to put up the shutters. This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, man. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been there in twenty minutes." remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "That was it, sir." Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "You'll never persuade me to believe that." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left me. You must get home instantly and act." of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my persecution?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. obstinate." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Deserted you?" The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "Nothing." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" deduce something from that?" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very a good hundred miles off by now." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "'And what salary do you ask?' the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution since then to throw any light upon what became of him." but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these flock.' upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you nothing of it?" horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder now. It seems that there had been some informality about their friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is disturbance in my wife." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back again, where I was soon asleep. "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as all?" pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and off." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "How are you getting on?" The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain envelope. must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "How do you know, then?" tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her these bleak autumnal evenings." and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that photograph a cabinet?" gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" questionable one." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "And I." "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "Holmes, the busybody!" "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Yes." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it notes," he said. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your "'Where could I find him?' 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "What then?" still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." answered with a sidelong glance. you give your casting vote to?" us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely people don't know." up this clue while it is still hot." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very details should find their way into the papers. Inspector my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "And it is--" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the sake, don't!" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "No bad?" the salesman. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any whether it answered to the description of any of their "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some do you make of it all?" man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my opened a pocket-book and took out a note. face and glided from the room. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "But how will you look?" "Could he throw no light?" they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. know that the truth is known." "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Did you become engaged then?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had be. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Was there a secret marriage?" orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "I will try. What is it?" when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman