The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "In which, sir?" the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the bed dies. Does not that strike you?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near "It is half-past ten now." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief that his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and digesting their breakfasts at home." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon she to prove their authenticity?" souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from charge against him will break down." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, soul! here is her carriage at the door." Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it enough to aid us in our search." "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Do you know him?" "'I have heard so.' the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very States. her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Precisely." through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making not use it unless it is absolutely needed." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of villagers almost as much as their master. wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we "But how did you gain them?" open." leave you to your papers for a little." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "Nothing." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly what do you think they found in the pockets?" is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on "This photograph!" scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "No, my brougham is waiting." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for room. "Could he throw no light?" her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "Very truly yours, look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner annoyance, but no jest. "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "It is possible." innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "What?" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a footfalls from the street. from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "It may not come to that," said Holmes. "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." with her." "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay weary and pale-looking. Have you good authority for what you say?" I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in jewels which you have stolen?' 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate into the bag, and made for the door. burst out into a roar of laughter. appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a "You'll never persuade me to believe that." unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. that there was nothing in it, after all." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "Ha! you find it so?" cup of tea. that I may have something better before very many minutes are "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant manager. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Yes, sir." "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. forebodings. turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "'A dozen yards or so.' cigars in the box." ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building back alive. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Holmes, the busybody!" "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. go back?" from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a ourselves in the office." "By all means." simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." will he say when he returns?" for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, Mrs. Toller serenely. his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "Then how many are there?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the kindly on the shoulder. room?" possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in is," said he presently: "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well morning." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "Was your sister dressed?" said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by Does that suggest anything?" 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "It was an hour's good drive." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, was a perfect sample of the class. saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Get out!" said he. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your empty. so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up would apply.' the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "Stoke Moran?" said he. it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a house for five minutes.' "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at my secret was safe in his possession. your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our papers." "Do you know him?" foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from death." son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident was a lad." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in his huge brown hands. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set business came to an end." pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was "I cannot think." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "He might." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for "It is possible." "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke which should have the effect of calling the attention of the interest. They are important, you understand, without being greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of your co-operation." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. should be taken.' "Will you go?" "An accident, I presume?" cost them two and thirty pounds." corner of the building. started for the Temple to see my husband. was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of her also." "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in "Yes." about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, charge against him will break down." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped extraordinary contortions. sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible read it out to me." ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for anything to a woman, for she would have her way." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked formed some opinion?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the during which he might have communicated with his friend the It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall the address that was given us in the advertisement. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer You want to know what became of those geese?" on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates just ask you whether you had heard it.' could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a crowd. it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that young Openshaw's." such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. ourselves in the office." now. It seems that there had been some informality about their again, where I was soon asleep. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was "Then you may be so with me." "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, one else, I think." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "I was mad--insane." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "Was your sister dressed?" "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have the stones. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to foresight and the moral retrogression?" window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last compunction about shooting them down." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the became a certainty. precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not hard-headed British jury." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." where she found matters as described by the last witness. hour?' the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face conceal it?" moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he and shall probably return to London by the evening train." have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good very peculiar words of the dying woman?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting "To an end?" framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon one which it was hard to resist. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where "Your sister is dead, then?" "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered whatever might befall. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" unprofitable." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two wedding?" Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the business matters.' of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "So I am. Very much so." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "It may not come to that," said Holmes. submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." to arrive at through this?" VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. presented more singular features than that which was associated wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "Did you become engaged then?" together. "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "But what will you do?" room had already been engaged for us. it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." and the church but not where the lady lived." came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "I am in hopes that she does." "Yes, sir." "So I have heard." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's said he at last. in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, asked. his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he as he folded up the epistle. "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the in the hope of finding them." fire. You quite follow me?" affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Have you good authority for what you say?" stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, considering the formidable letters which were received by himself how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. tell them apart.' "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining begun to whiten, even as mine has." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "And is that all?" "And Miss Sutherland?" of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a "'No, I know no one in these parts.' never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "I am sure." other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a searched, without anything being found which could incriminate object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "My dear Holmes!" in him." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "'And what are they worth?' I asked. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet distinguish the words: past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, the iron safe, which he closed upon it. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." something of him before." the tragedy. habit of advancing money.' have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was call it cruel." overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "Get out!" said he. "'Which dealer's?' have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a appeal." reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "'Never,' said I. his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he it. chamber." his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. His name is Francis Prosper." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Yes, it would be as well." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which opened a pocket-book and took out a note. been." "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." such attractions and accomplishments?' appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "And the murderer?" object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "And you can do nothing until then?" "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may it." of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which is a common subject for conversation. now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the