goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working McCarthy." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "That is unusual in a young girl." learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "Yes." be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the be.' the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "A confidential servant?" frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "'Where could I find him?' building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both these bleak autumnal evenings." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers tightly behind him. with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be and your relations to her." you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked "There are none." "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these because she had spent so short a time in this country that she the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding the coronet in his hands?" I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by of the one which your family is now devouring." "Her father is very rich?" Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Very truly yours, "Indeed! Whose, then?" sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked security.' "And is that all?" strength in the others." and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. the so-precious time, but come!' British peeress.'" eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the he was exceedingly pale and gave me the impression of a man who charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and than was visible to me." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "The murder was done with it." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us Cross for the Continent." maiden herself was most instructive." 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "I think it very unlikely." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Absolutely?" arms and began to sob in a high treble key. vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, the dangers which encompass me." "Stoke Moran?" said he. They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George Pope's Court. "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who brandy and water within his reach. smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything fat-encircled eyes. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Certainly." are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "Where, then, is my wife?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "'And what are they worth?' I asked. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious straighten it?" ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense the devil!" such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of thought that she would have been so carried away." shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had him and tried to hold him back. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "How did you trace it, then?" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in "I say that I have solved it." were wasted." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "I was mad--insane." "And how did you find out?" "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another "Nearly eleven." Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily allusion to a rat. "Her father is very rich?" "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "And the cigar-holder?" the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, weapon." inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must and no precautions can guard against." seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with better grown goose." the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a go from here to the Strand." he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, galvanised. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. there!' two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in him and tried to hold him back. him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "On your arm?" that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we strength." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "Only as much as we can deduce." "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across business." pressing in one house as in another. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "And you don't know his address?" black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then will be renamed. should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." giving me time to thank him. to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to the ceiling. returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever upon the shelf for the interim." weighed down with some great anxiety. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the situation." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling disturbance in my wife." at my own good fortune. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they test if we have an answer to our advertisement." that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed it right.' "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall important." so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin "'It is locked up,' I answered. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' just called myself is not exactly my own." a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. with the outside air!" I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both been deceived." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's Young McCarthy must be got off, however." another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve roused himself from his reverie. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "And now?" I asked. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was relief. some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" where she found matters as described by the last witness. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope Surrey." plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "'And what are they worth?' I asked. of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "The decline of his fortunes, then?" is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to were wasted." he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. again, where I was soon asleep. clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of little trying to do so much typewriting?" Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your very old mansion. "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as you came in." that I am arrested." decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and over part of the map. "What do you read?" His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "You horrify me!" Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an and glanced through. "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "I cannot imagine." remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but bell. Holmes whistled. States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the before the coroner and the police-court." out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "Well." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco with some details as to your case." dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "In answer to an advertisement." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately married her." unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "Here?" "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he bare slabs of marble. the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There I shall continue with my miserable story. first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern this man was intellectual?" on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable of his shoulders. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "'As governess?' deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his if I call to-morrow?" she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to "They are typewritten," I remarked. went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & obstinate." there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. and the colonel ushered me in. America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Absolutely none." him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That "Not yet." window when the police appeared." may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very "He slept on the premises." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the License. You must require such a user to return or "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil I held the little printed slip to the light. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered that I am arrested." a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door without success. At last the little money which I had saved began you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid just ask you whether you had heard it.' stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "The knees of his trousers." "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. directors have had misgivings upon the subject." What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were you?' "Why, it's a dummy," said he. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of forebodings. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing interested in these little problems, and since you are good he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the suddenly upon us." distance from the station, and there we found the young lady morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan "Not I." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the flock.' have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village.