green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "Always." purpose equally well?" stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a way in." mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her entirely devoid of interest." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "Then, as to money?" gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "It certainly sounds feasible." dramatic, in fact." "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole useful material for showing traces. The double line a little over with notes and figures. right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. criminal. We have already had experience of such." "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. them present such singular features as the strange train of One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "It goes to the housekeeper's room." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him meant." "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. man. I know him from the photograph." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until some terrible trap for her." "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. have established a very serious case against the son of the way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark ventilator." knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and if only as a check to my own memory." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a bed dies. Does not that strike you?" the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police hardly wander." tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative entirely devoid of interest." incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will that I can to serve you." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as behind me. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm it means?" golden eyeglasses. shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about chambers. "At what time?" adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you written. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had reach." folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "His face fell immediately. that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing and a shock of very red hair. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings "I think it very unlikely." "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "So I heard. You have him here?" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very 'please.'" and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Pray tell us what has happened to you." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through "'Which dealer's?' business matters.' "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists "Do you know him?" gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "Two days later this same performance was gone through under diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "What on earth has that to do with it?" I ejaculated. Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "By no means." believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have forehead. think that he is innocent?" said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. occurred." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to giving me time to thank him. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in in the hope of finding them." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. was keenly on my guard against him. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after distinguish the words: was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa charge against him will break down." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their said I. suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows said I. unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "Will you bet, then?" smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, wanted for ourselves." hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never said I. "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If shall use the carriage to-night." "No." "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My electronic works routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us is worth.' gone. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "So it appears." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and returned to France?" perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to useful material for showing traces. The double line a little vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank roused himself from his reverie. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to plantation.' woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "How many? I don't know." us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "And your mother is alive?" mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "He slept on the premises." "At what time?" Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. the address that was given us in the advertisement. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Do you go out much in society?" of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and unclasping of his long thin hands. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then "Nothing." jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his nothing with him." If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." think that he is innocent?" admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said meant." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. there was no need for father to know." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I charged with?" furiously. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress His name is Francis Prosper." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "Did you become engaged then?" customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" the salesman. in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings own family. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been had picked up in the wood. case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave searched, without anything being found which could incriminate severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our to miss it." with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is strength." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of union?" his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious grasp, he hurried from the room. "'Most admirably.' "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" stepfather?" "I would pay ten." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of about. "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by it. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "'Is purely nominal.' we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "It is very kind of you." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away was not a bird to be seen there. there." stood on the top of it. The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious dead, shall be safe with us." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the before the coroner and the police-court." upon the white wrist. Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "It is solved." inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "Precisely." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the unprecedented a position." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps subject to the trademark license, especially commercial the room while you explain this matter?" walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten had no one to advise her at such a crisis." the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I not as remarkable as your advertisement." would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. people don't know." that he has suffered." "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. man. I know him from the photograph." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "Stolen." towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have would apply.' would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "Where, then?" the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at woman who has had her own way to make in the world. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the there is a decided draught." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from presume?" "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be the south-west, I see." inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me Doctor, of the paper and the date." not fit the lock." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old and looked back. St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, himself in a perplexing position. fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "Yesterday." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "And how did you verify them?" during which he might have communicated with his friend the "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. amused." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of stepfather?" "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems