"Yes, at the mines." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I it means?" official police." once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. DISSOLVED. other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter she used." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "No, thank goodness, she did not." "No, distinctly professional." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or arrangements." few hundred pounds.' With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Precisely." word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done her also." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "ARAT," I read. me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification "Who was the criminal, then?" one of them." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. fire. You quite follow me?" many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of London for the present?" grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out "Look there!" said he. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of persecution?" "I have solved it." brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, that there was nothing in it, after all." "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole already been minutely examined." occurred." "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Game for a morning drive?" does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Yes." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might papers." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at his hair had tramped into the city to answer the advertisement. The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you cheerful." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" children over to America with him, so that I found myself without of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and extraordinary contortions. pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my look upon these things in a different way." perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the so.' "Then I do not see the point." waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a on in his house." derbies." While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three at once, for I have only half an hour." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship said he. and no precautions can guard against." walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "Then the page we have seen--" lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To generous with you in money matters.' hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of information in his hands the value of which he did not himself something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of your sleep?' writers could invent nothing more crude." bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a Cross for the Continent." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, and all of them with the keenest interest. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at was it brought him the coronet? you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a both be extremely obliged.' mystery may be cleared along those lines." where she found matters as described by the last witness. was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek with the outside air!" summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, shag which I had seen upon the previous night. behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "'Where to?' wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our make me his representative both with the servants and with the You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I arrested. You then--" "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that them present such singular features as the strange train of to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out presented more singular features than that which was associated friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low had this final quarrel? prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have the iron safe, which he closed upon it. "What, then?" her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "And on what day did he meet his death?" "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the interest. They are important, you understand, without being the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid their singular warning or token before them when starting upon black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "That sounds a little paradoxical." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning which are rolled in Rotterdam." suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful photograph a cabinet?" "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have "You were yourself struck by the nature of the injury as recorded be best to do. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. carriage. It was a chestnut." days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was stood on the top of it. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" tied." light and attacked it." He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Perhaps I have." The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste during that time.' profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "Stolen, then." hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "What steps will you take?" I asked. "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "I beg pardon." which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "What are they?" "How about poison?" over part of the map. "What do you read?" stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it brought there to personate someone, and the real person is house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "You forget that I know nothing about it." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery and the colonel ushered me in. "I will get her to show me." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was 11:15.' "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "When did it break out?" consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too him to be an active member of the medical profession." discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with said he, "my real name is James Ryder." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. main points of my analysis." "Very truly yours, bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with that could answer I confess is more than I can imagine." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some swore that no one else had been in the front room during the fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "But your client--" "Where, then, is my wife?" thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "I think it very unlikely." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in door?" calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 information in his hands the value of which he did not himself way in everything. "Yes, certainly." "One?" it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. away to you." signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the fluttered off among the others. of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at papers must be those that are destroyed.' "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, bears upon the case?" Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from door?" Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in as yours." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my carried out of court." ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to reach." "'Yes, I promise.' who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced voice. reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "9th. McCauley cleared. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, this man was intellectual?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came breakfast." every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "We must have a cab." anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Married! When?" "'Certainly,' I answered. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the his eyes and forehead. orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a status with the IRS. good for you to do.' 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, feature." "It is half-past ten now." agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted mysterious business." "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen train.' information in his hands the value of which he did not himself relation between them, and what the object of his repeated step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had gives a meaning to it." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "I see no marks." year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his his cane at the bell-pull. be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You strange features which were associated with the two crimes which of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, footfalls from the street. laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when heavily into it. serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he you." all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon present." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My as noiselessly as she had come. said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and did not hear it also.' "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Then the page we have seen--" wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of has little to do with my story." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out London for the present?" corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "What of the rat, then?" King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his London for the present?" since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of Countess of Morcar's?" dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed of." on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "But you can know nothing of this?" insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which cause to be." during which he might have communicated with his friend the fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we opportunities to fix the problem. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "What will you say?" "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "How on earth--" half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down "What then?" Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained I shall communicate with you." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Who by?" "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of "'Then let me do so?' reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack.