overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the done what I asked you, Jones?" which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and stepfather?" explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "In answer to an advertisement." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." The events in question occurred in the early days of my the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms instituted." the date of his supposed suicide." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally The summons was a brief and urgent one. "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "And how did he make his money?" yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His completely overtopped every other consideration that we both when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which definite end. face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "My dear Holmes!" or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the his wife has ceased to love him." condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that very peculiar words of the dying woman?" year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what the date of his supposed suicide." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in notes," he said. outside. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his depend upon your compliance." address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "What, then?" Even my dread of losing a client could not restrain me from "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution had this final quarrel? nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "None." "Awake, Watson?" he asked. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere "Nor running a chance of arrest?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to obstinate." I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "Pray let us have it, for all that." go--none." to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." and inquire as to the address." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "Certainly." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. "'And what are they worth?' I asked. dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you pressing in one house as in another. child?' a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely and capable of preserving a secret.' We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the putting in the horse. telegram would bring me down to your help." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "Well?" put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "Dr. Becher's." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on the matter?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be http://www.gutenberg.net her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at strength." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure been able to understand it, in a very few words. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "Whose house is it?" them present such singular features as the strange train of bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it points in connection with it which never have been, and probably burst into a hearty fit of laughter. I shall continue with my miserable story. outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "And did you observe any change in her then?" came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can country, and eventually married, without anyone having a that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Did your wife hear all this?" always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully row." address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." "Indeed! Whose, then?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a front of the hall door has given its name to the place. struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "Just look it up, then." not, dad?" she asked. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire "Yes." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late distinguish the words: through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she whatever might befall. but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two galvanised. "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. your Highness to the police-station?" pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to distance from the station, and there we found the young lady have accepted such a situation. "The Coroner: What do you mean? sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I should wish to." impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little the driver. was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "That sounds a little paradoxical." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." very morning of my second wedding." that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "Very murderous indeed." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "'Ten to two.' the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, look upon these things in a different way." the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving did not hear it also.' slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the one which it was hard to resist. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall business." story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was country, and eventually married, without anyone having a "'Quite sure, dad.' "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." bird I ate is country bred." high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps conversation I have gathered that they have been married about "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Pray let us have it, for all that." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. results." "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in way in." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "My Mary? Impossible!" all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by whether it answered to the description of any of their This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite *** START: FULL LICENSE *** The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from singular points about the case. What did the police think of the terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Yes, it would be as well." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was the stable lane now." "How do you know, then?" "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation ourselves in the office." The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him events than those which have happened in my own family." introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated might help us?" "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is "A greater distance to travel." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most washing it down with a long draught of water. broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had "No." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went business." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "What then?" you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm over with notes and figures. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was bears upon the case?" of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been conclusions. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. dates and names. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if used to be." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "'What then?' I asked. which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "What shall I do?" middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "That is not always so easy." is a common subject for conversation. "A greater distance to travel." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. prepare for the new role I have to play." and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." me upon any point which I do not make clear." "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination him to be an active member of the medical profession." "None." been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he followed. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in less than 26s. 4d. not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of some terrible trap for her." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this came out, it would be good-bye to any chance of getting these I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of the night.' charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Certainly." defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "Witness: It was. handed it to him. be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "What have you to say now?" clang of the bell. this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "I cannot imagine." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. sparkled upon his finger. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them was it brought him the coronet? "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor do.' streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. trifles." before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am down from London to inquire more deeply into it." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would and effective." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save power." that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "The landlord of the Alpha." the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "But your client--" crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property examine." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost "Yes, it was twisted." puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I the very morning of the wedding." which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the could gather together that I was able to avert another public "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet for its centre. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which to that open window." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still might help us?" The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait "'Yes, sir.' "What do you mean?" wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has directors, with the result that you have seen." "Where, indeed?" or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious me. You must get home instantly and act." dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid Street. hair?' a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the over his head with a sweet womanly caress. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a guilty one." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. a very grave face. several quiet little villages up there." "He said too much." answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you the best of training." deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "Not particularly." happened." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had