fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where when your master had gone out." If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had past. away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It door?" "But how will you look?" married her." year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred remarked. to arrive at through this?" massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. you." will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, breakfast and whispered something to her husband. tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even tail." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her "You know me, then?" have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "Was there a secret marriage?" "But it has twice been burgled." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing at my remark. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain congratulate you again." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried tell them apart.' I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. "Yes, but only for you and me." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes you?" To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow which it had come upon my father." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I occurred." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, "Thank you. And your address?" business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "It was." the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that garden below. charge against him will break down." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a distance from the station, and there we found the young lady companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his would apply.' "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed her also." police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become stepfather?" "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious present." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we second window is the one that I jumped from." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was You want to know what became of those geese?" stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was enough to aid us in our search." "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another copied or distributed: inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, father's place of business?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "It came here." look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it examination of the premises, but without finding anything which facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which miles off. firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in may never be exposed to such a temptation." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, your own bird, so if you wish--" step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "Then the page we have seen--" "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I Sutherland?" rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert this truth that in these little records of our cases which you his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "Can I be of assistance?" you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "I should be immensely obliged to you." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar will not take me long to tell. which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "I fear not." "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly the inner apartment." have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little clang of the bell. bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were standing smiling on the door-step. red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the them?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that hour." it." A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a point our research must commence, and we will begin it by carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "But it has twice been burgled." and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in must be when I saw the door open.' "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "But who is he?" number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at his cane at the bell-pull. lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the official police." what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very golden eyeglasses. cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. speckled band?" to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low reason, so sudden and so terrible is it. Public disgrace I might in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. hand, madam?" you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is the Red-headed League." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a it." Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it Edgeware Road. branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united your most interesting statement." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "The decline of his fortunes, then?" and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of make me his representative both with the servants and with the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to sparkled upon his finger. all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "It is half-past ten now." manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'You cannot say what it was?' "'As governess?' tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? mysterious business." that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It the devil!" there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. License. You must require such a user to return or "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "And it is--" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "My dear Holmes!" wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." tassel actually lying upon the pillow. quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "And how in the world did you find them?" carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "No." "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in and effective." in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" plantation.' "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. colonel looking down at me. the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked how narrow had been my escape. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow voice, changing her seat as requested. line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who over part of the map. "What do you read?" investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about What do you deduce from it?" done what I asked you, Jones?" once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I bill, which interests me deeply." "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "How long did she speak to this Alice?" such person." when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father it. writer." you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for "Bought." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand to change my dress. "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a depend upon your compliance." death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, lost his Christmas dinner." "But who is he?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "And that is--" not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the "Well." "Ha! you find it so?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea that the gas is not laid on in his house?" doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Then I do not see the point." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, 'please.'" money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the call it cruel." "I will try. What is it?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City happened." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met all-comprehensive glances. hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in rooms." "No bad?" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be ventilator." glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against himself to tell his story. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." had picked up in the wood. "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself said he at last. general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, neither fascinating nor artistic." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be "And leave your case unfinished?" ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "I would pay ten." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' "Whose house is it?" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange the address that was given us in the advertisement. your billet.' "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "The decline of his fortunes, then?" reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to jewels which you have stolen?' rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to and capable of preserving a secret.' or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "I cannot imagine." watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, your equipment. then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other appeared upon the scene." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Do you go out much in society?" and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very "And when will you call?" has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "And why?" "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, should be taken.' fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "Absolutely none." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon intrusion of other matters." confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger