"I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been light and attacked it." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. your troubles." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your wedding?" "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Then you may entirely rely on me." he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. goes." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" spark where all is dark to me." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "I was sure that I might rely on you." "The murder was done with it." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "I fear not." foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, You want to know what became of those geese?" "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Entirely." push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and all of them with the keenest interest. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just your room." evidence," I remarked. "He slept on the premises." quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an more solid." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of affection." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in were unconscious?" VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the carried out of court." send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "One horse?" interjected Holmes. my room." including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "By no means." served to weaken the effect. any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears present strange and interesting features that it is no easy generous with you in money matters.' a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among Foundation "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence article?" decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was cost them two and thirty pounds." beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a the date of his supposed suicide." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, could go. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the galvanised. accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "Witness: Nothing definite. of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and them present such singular features as the strange train of constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with anything to do with the matter?" "I shall be delighted." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "It is a murder, then?" bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Game for a morning drive?" "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story bonnet, and went out." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction things are very often connected not with the larger but with the may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' or other trace. But how on earth--" "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the persecution?" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the matter." "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "My private note-paper." clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "Yes, the wine-cellar." Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very lost his Christmas dinner." "Perhaps I have." prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "I answered that I had not. had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. again." he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "It was." seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in read over the extraordinary announcement. father's place of business?" as yours." he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, His smile broadened. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates sit on the left-hand side of the driver." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "Certainly." with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one seem to you to be relevant or not." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous chamber." "Yes." from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his overpowering excitement and concern. me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind disappearance of these gems?" hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Nor running a chance of arrest?" weary and pale-looking. and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might "You have but to name it." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof not within a twentieth part of the market price." do." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one because she had spent so short a time in this country that she to have that photograph." is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the was keenly on my guard against him. "Come in!" said Holmes. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is seem to you to be relevant or not." luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Was she in good spirits?" vague figure huddled up in the darkness. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt ago." father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing papers must be those that are destroyed.' even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. prepare for the new role I have to play." fish-monger and a tide-waiter." and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, him to be an active member of the medical profession." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "Was he the only applicant?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the one as in the other." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish that you saw all that I did." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "He disappeared so suddenly." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine less than 26s. 4d. a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and such attractions and accomplishments?' thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with do you make of it all?" table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a said I. that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was this Miss Turner." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am excitement. you came in." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the the King without delay." need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present Clair, of Lee." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "Deserted you?" hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in flock.' returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray "Proceed, then." suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and to have been novel and of interest." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "'Yes, I promise.' be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back existence." Mary, has deserted me." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of made him keep the appointment." held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough point in the dark hollow of his hand. From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "Then I am your man." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a extraordinary contortions. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and papers must be those that are destroyed.' occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the have not had my rubber." orange pips. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open interests were the same as his." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "What shall I do?" "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I prisoner's face. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others yet." to me. the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Of Friday, June 19th." was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Imitated." him. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, of the efforts of the United States government and of the better protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might it were putty." window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air main points of my analysis." chamber." "Not particularly." see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I During two years I have had three consultations and one small even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by signal between you and your father? is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other any." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would had died away into the silence from which it rose. "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main other, as fresh and trim as possible. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow golden eyeglasses. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations outsides of the windows. cigars in the box." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to completely overtopped every other consideration that we both superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "But his lameness?" armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Doctor, of the paper and the date." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending fish-monger and a tide-waiter." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three strode off upon his way. made him keep the appointment." never to learn it at all." swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and my former friend and companion. "Why, what do you mean?" pound a week." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for his knees, staring into the fire. "Where did you address your letters, then?" still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be without a word or a look. rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own comes from the middle window." All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Did he not advertise?" "My dear Holmes!" preposterous English window fasteners which a child could open. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Here?" showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the his grey eyes. He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands least a most suspicious remark." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "You horrify me." "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite been able to understand it, in a very few words. from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton completely overtopped every other consideration that we both "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will bed dies. Does not that strike you?" as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for she might be summoned. wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that system of imprisonment?" wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "That is possible." "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the had this final quarrel? "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate business at Coburg Square is serious." might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by