I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that strength." exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "I am sure." Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my lost nothing by them." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "But how?" how narrow had been my escape. "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at "My photograph." against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the populous neighbourhood." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "A confidential servant?" passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is sake, don't!" heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' meanly of me." "What steps will you take?" I asked. http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "Yes, but only for you and me." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her not as remarkable as your advertisement." the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification detective. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "You are hungry," I remarked. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is this poor creature." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would very morning of my second wedding." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest without success. At last the little money which I had saved began I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through against a man in the prime of life?" there is a decided draught." Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a sit on the left-hand side of the driver." rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so have one." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from infinite languor in his face. Sutherland. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "What will you say?" in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down During two years I have had three consultations and one small John Swain, of St. Augustine. all-comprehensive glances. occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she meant it for the best. accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she lamp. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through will take you up to see the machine.' is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under rat could hardly pass through." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a until night should bring an explanation. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural very old mansion. "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself happened." the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. ago." overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "The landlord of the Alpha." the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how children over to America with him, so that I found myself without January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a shag which I had seen upon the previous night. could go. VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, in him." "And what then?" Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses and have this put in the evening papers." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "On Monday." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So to tell." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Stolen, then." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man during which he might have communicated with his friend the a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his leaning back in his chair. and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I as this. Pray let me have the details." whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of once more to my work. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the note?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." you, my dear young lady?' silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "I know where it is." end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark humiliation." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "I beg pardon." of the one which your family is now devouring." "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from fled together." "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after six. Come in!" outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." remarked. "It is solved." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." imbecility!" he cried. the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "Upon what point?" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just "That is easily got." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Sholtos." "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the thin legs towards the fire. "And is that all?" and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two crime." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I Eyford at 11:15.' note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in felt?" as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "My last client of the sort was a king." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found daring than any effort of the imagination." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the the coronet in his hand?" fear." pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the recover the gem." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our power." why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "'Not at all. I only doubt--' words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "An accident, I presume?" I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John joking. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." 1.E.9. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage hurried away. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning if I call to-morrow?" kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, The King stared at him in amazement. disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. weighed down with some great anxiety. the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "To ruin me." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of unkempt, staring out at me. fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it to arrive at through this?" so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then one's self under obligations.' 1.F. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the derbies." withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have should be taken.' the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" which our visitor detailed to us. Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will had formerly been in part my own. buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds ADVENTURE V. THE FIVE ORANGE PIPS should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover matters immensely." question," said Holmes, smiling. the south-west, I see." place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim me what he had done with the three missing stones. desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well were wasted." furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one young Openshaw's." partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "Nothing?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when "About a month then." "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded least a fellow-countryman. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found approach us with offers to donate. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, photograph?" "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "What! You do not mean bodies?" with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to "But we can't all be." blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he important." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "No." think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the question," said Holmes, smiling. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "'What then?' I asked. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "That's no good." the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, more solid." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your his face. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the inner apartment." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the "Then I do not see the point." the warnings." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in society." strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his narrative." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Serpentine Avenue. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "We must sit without light. He would see it through the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." one of them." "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish "A confidential servant?" Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was careless servant girl?" delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the American. Then who could this American be, and why should he "'Entirely.' so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "What will you say?" the bottom.' been able to understand it, in a very few words. to his chemical studies. hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" things are very often connected not with the larger but with the going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "Only as much as we can deduce." least a most suspicious remark." adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "The Cedars?" tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at the salesman. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?"