more solid." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a hour." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I showing my impatience. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The it were putty." There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed 'please.'" "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "The vanishing of the lady." "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in until night should bring an explanation. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Witness: I must still refuse. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps weighed down with some great anxiety. all-comprehensive glances. dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole to where he stood hid behind the curtain. I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do as noiselessly as she had come. his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said enter into my head. noise which awoke you from your sleep?" about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." had this final quarrel? "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe again." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at in his power. He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the over with notes and figures. purpose of examination. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "Did he not advertise?" contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate some water from a caraffe. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A keep the flames under. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination the best of training." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the purpose equally well?" feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under returned to France?" seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for bled considerably." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of some place of shelter and let the county police know what has Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "And it is--" "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, Clair, of Lee." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my most important business. It is probable that he will be away all other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to the side-table." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "It is a murder, then?" "And you can do nothing until then?" again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our head. So long, then!" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue read it out to me." manager. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which conviction that every one of his actions was directed towards a very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you DAMAGE. "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real way in." one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child legal crime." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "And it is--" enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "But how?" much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right bedroom door." clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "And how?" imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. child?' among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any fluttered off among the others. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "But how?" the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever horse could go." "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my into her hand at the door and which lured her within their the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was pound a week." beg that you will break it off." congratulate you again." branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "When did it break out?" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to swore that no one else had been in the front room during the nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "I answered that I had not. "Who by?" think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." Arthur Conan Doyle "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "But it has twice been burgled." contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid Holmes rather sternly. beyond words. her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual upon the white wrist. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the amused." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very "So I heard. You have him here?" upon an income of about 60 pounds." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of that?' "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked "Dr. Becher's." named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; this poor creature." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never voice, changing her seat as requested. take the flies, but not before." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as three fields round his house, and there he would take his Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "Yes, at the mines." like gravel from a pit.' already referred to. "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Sholtos." beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her be there in time for your coming." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "Where is it, then?" "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Certainly." allusion to a rat. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and friend's singular character. "'Certainly not.' for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower get her out of the way." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe the tragedy. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that experiences." "I fear not." already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of go back?" little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its may never be exposed to such a temptation." stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I my friend's incisive reasoning. "There is the writing." just ask you whether you had heard it.' "And sit in the dark?" "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. success. world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge him." "At the wedding breakfast." good-night and bustled off upon her way. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "'Is 4 pounds a week.' "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to call it cruel." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering Farm upon the left." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "'Where could I find him?' so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "Yes, sir." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice happened." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain correct than the official force." held up the lantern and gazed about him. grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in "Married! When?" "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on newspaper selections." "Did your wife hear all this?" chambers. on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Where, then?" I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "But how will you look?" would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "I know where it is." in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, was the fact that his father should, according to his account, provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "What steps will you take?" I asked. wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I "Where did you address your letters, then?" "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each towards the blaze. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the not come at once?" precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do which are rolled in Rotterdam." "None." Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "What!" he roared. "No, finished." not, dad?" she asked. the ceiling. my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each chance at all." going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "My own seal." these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps Count Von Kramm." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any and have this put in the evening papers." was feeling which was the fattest.' "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "None. Neville wrote those words." This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it our word." erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good have established a very serious case against the son of the husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and in. "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "'A dozen yards or so.' son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, key of the affair now." "That was it, sir." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" "And leave your case unfinished?" you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great rose-bushes. "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when there has been an enclosure here!" unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a Holmes' room. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the not, dad?" she asked. sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close way in." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as wedding?" cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too should be taken.' deduce something from that?" "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told any more." fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. excitement. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was indeed which he could not unravel. village inn over there?" for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should "Then what has happened to him?" As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an and laid it on the table. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to nothing with him." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out it means?" lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of keep the flames under. heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to think you a quite exceptional woman." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked ashen face. came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon whole matter to your consideration." resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "And what then?" not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "He is still with you, I presume?" address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey the roots. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there sit on the left-hand side of the driver." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came upon the sideboard." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident