houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with might have a private word with us. of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking looking up at the numbers of the houses." the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen will be renamed. he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin second." save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my a good hundred miles off by now." cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that top of the pile. "There is a little nut for you to crack, Master suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "'Quite sure, dad.' "How did you trace it, then?" wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "By no means." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for out." heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about an introduction to him?" attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "What then?" I am not easy in my mind about them." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this "Because he was handy and would come cheap." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "One?" and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped I took the paper from him and read as follows: bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' It was close upon four before the door opened, and a whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and Have you good authority for what you say?" "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled outside." The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and father's young wife. next day. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." strode off upon his way. "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged "So I have heard." few hundred pounds.' "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do situation." quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass with you alone." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "My dear Holmes!" Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my became a certainty. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly time." "What will you do, then?" will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when simple cases which are so extremely difficult." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" "Come in!" said he. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "'Where could I find him?' panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "She will not sell." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you "A call for help, you thought?" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then asked. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "'Is purely nominal.' them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may chance at all." "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." "May I see it?" it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the intrusion of other matters." office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" child?' with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" little trying to do so much typewriting?" the station." even so self-evident a thing as that." "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' heavily into it. which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "But she could not love him." every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." "Well, some hundreds of times." success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both said I. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. use an arc-and-compass breastpin." young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "'As governess?' "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been His smile broadened. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my "Why? What do you mean?" with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a noise which awoke you from your sleep?" Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than hopeless attempt at recovering them." "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be considering the formidable letters which were received by himself round and wave him away like that.' Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in flock.' cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had "Yes." supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you "Yes, that is the Crown." already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now "'As governess?' 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. occupations.' "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to upon the white wrist. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "I shall most certainly do so." a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it at once, for I have only half an hour." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of purpose equally well?" younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of to affect your life." pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring "I will get her to show me." of." "No, my brougham is waiting." order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he burst into a hearty fit of laughter. resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a I approached. "Whose house is it?" you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. is so. I know all about McCarthy." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the himself to tell his story. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in few hundred pounds.' not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end already referred to. nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He the Assizes." "But she will refuse." "It is his hat." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a envelope. that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which to affect your life." "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have in his power. "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You companion. "Not I." of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, mysterious business." and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the your own bird, so if you wish--" the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of down. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. do you make of it all?" whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "I am about to be married." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I delirious. "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to habit of advancing money.' here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door if only as a check to my own memory." Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy because she had spent so short a time in this country that she head. So long, then!" But Holmes shook his head gravely. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, such attractions and accomplishments?' from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been mysterious business." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his better in every way that they should make their position a little ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY DISSOLVED. was it brought him the coronet? "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Whose house is it?" Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord outside." furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" house for five minutes.' higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." "His face fell immediately. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and "Yes." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation conduct the inquiry." the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "They are typewritten," I remarked. arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "I was sure that I might rely on you." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the hair?' machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to friends, not even his own brother. made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate God! What an exposure! What can I do?" month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I nice household for a young lady." and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we more terrible than the truth. criminal. We have already had experience of such." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Perfectly so." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody drove away. again on its way. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there "And I to find an enemy." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "'Tell me all about it,' said I. keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "'Never.' "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let felt?" present." "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a green of the new foliage. The summons was a brief and urgent one. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The husband's writing, madam." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations you came in." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." "That is not always so easy." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits in darkness. someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with subject to the trademark license, especially commercial "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "My private note-paper." Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Not in the least." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Countess of Morcar's?" "I think it very unlikely." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. pierced for earrings?" interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one sound at heart." going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case answered with a sidelong glance. the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had IS from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott present strange and interesting features that it is no easy centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired 1.F. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper more solid." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to "I cannot tell." unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found is now desirous of getting those letters back." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "I cannot as yet see any connection." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "'Why, what did you think?' I asked.