"No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "Yes, the wine-cellar." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Always." it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You and the whole place is in a blaze." could gather together that I was able to avert another public absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform test if we have an answer to our advertisement." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the "And did you observe any change in her then?" not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you strange features which were associated with the two crimes which building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "Come in!" said he. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this his fortune, and I went back to pa. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his cheerful." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Ten will be early enough." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," go from here to the Strand." double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had depend upon your compliance." Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "Oh, the cause is excellent!" him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right present." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me frequently gained my first real insight into the character of squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and the morning and make my own way in the world.' ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be as ever, deeply attracted by the study of crime, and occupied his orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "'Stolen!' he cried. "Do you go out much in society?" previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Munro.' word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to power." same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper in your London, you will know that the office of the company is reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the would apply.' was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" information in his hands the value of which he did not himself arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It locked." coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "Then he might have called to you?" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with The note was undated, and without either signature or address. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "How are you getting on?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Holmes' face clouded over. the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in could gather together that I was able to avert another public and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, appeared upon the scene." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able useful material for showing traces. The double line a little sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It deduce something from that?" a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." "'Yes.' Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and the armchair which I pushed forward for him. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the and a shock of very red hair. man. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was "And now?" I asked. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he advice." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "What of the rat, then?" zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest considering the formidable letters which were received by himself any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "Have you it here?" shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. purpose equally well?" bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "That sounds a little paradoxical." the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Not social, then?" "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There are, I think, all that we need." take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the "She told me to ask you." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "The doctor?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight stepfather?" the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of entirely lost his self-respect." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place "I have a cab outside." the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a This is what he says: "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round bonnet, and went out." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of conclusions. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Who by?" which it had come upon my father." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I it." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no himself to tell his story. have not had my rubber." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "You heard nothing yourself last night?" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and nonsense.' I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to public press." may never be exposed to such a temptation." Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "Here?" spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on with the outside air!" "Then how many are there?" "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It morning." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "Why, what do you mean?" VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND this remarkable episode. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled foot. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very a monotonous occupation." means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there woven round him. safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself "And what did you see?" eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill "I say it is." "Nothing?" Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. the ceiling. and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few been anything against him. He had for years been known as a did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. lips." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. ill-usage at the hands of fortune. "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "Deserted you?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying had died away into the silence from which it rose. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking wedding?" must compliment you." permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of had formerly been in part my own. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. was a loud and authoritative tap. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's "That is not always so easy." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own carpenter." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if you want, then?' upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "I cannot tell." half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable the address that was given us in the advertisement. "In heaven's name, what for?" which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" society." come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a bore every mark of being an average commonplace British saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of better grown goose." upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it again." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical "Yes, that is the Crown." be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "Where to?" "And Miss Sutherland?" "Precisely." while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "Come in!" said Holmes. "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a respectable self." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Well, but China?" window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than residence of the great financier. "Yes." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, affair. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side "Then I do not see the point." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time results." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with of fine shops and stately business premises that they really recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "Entirely." have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's subject to the trademark license, especially commercial he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The is acting for the best. had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I should be immensely obliged to you." "But not more so than I to find you." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "Yes." "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an the King without delay." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, Eyford." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, are, I think, all that we need." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "But what harm can there be in that?" in this way: "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in and no precautions can guard against." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an have an American origin." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to noise which awoke you from your sleep?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out