in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened to where he stood hid behind the curtain. respectable self." "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; maid will bring up your coffee." "About a month then." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying appeared upon the scene." train.' "Do you know him?" yourselves in at night?" believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. "I promise," said Holmes. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing point our research must commence, and we will begin it by "'Then let me do so?' downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we fled together." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Murdered?" something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." "I will try. What is it?" McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side The events in question occurred in the early days of my 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "Yes." The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said get the tickets." minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get ways of our fellow-men." "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, examination of the premises, but without finding anything which and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt mysterious end." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout perplexity from it to my illustrious client. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "An accident, I presume?" very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Yes." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an "Yes, that is the Crown." key of the affair now." Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who Literary Archive Foundation fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my desk. "Ah, but I was recommended to you." my friend's incisive reasoning. "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases present." hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that "Will you bet, then?" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "What!" he roared. "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, begin with, and I had not got mine yet." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the money and never would look at a shilling of mine. And yet, what disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though Pool. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern bearing upon the case." was a lad." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would in this note: seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she said he. see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and very peculiar words of the dying woman?" learned something! Where are the gems?" "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" the Red-headed League." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That tapping his fingers upon the table. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "My own seal." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded have accepted such a situation. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "She will not sell." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "It came here." my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since cause to be." you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way disappearance of the bride.'" "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of "The murder was done with it." stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined awkward doing business with an alias." said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both yourselves in at night?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, have I gained?" as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door "What office?" very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Breckinridge is his name." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, furiously. delirious. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the lids now and glanced across at his visitor. heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out "What will you do, then?" "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office you, my dear young lady?' thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "The doctor?" set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. your room." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police cigars in their mouths. reach." or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is in his power. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert "Yes, he did." seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two until night should bring an explanation. a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well 'I should be able to look after that for you.' X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and and glanced through. I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to to you." reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Then I shall certainly come." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once with you alone." he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "None. Neville wrote those words." done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the recover the gem." the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to his grey eyes. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." three of the beryls in it, was missing. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to respectable self." than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged mysterious business." office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "And your father? Did you tell him?" strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "And what then?" at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. careless servant girl?" parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from useful material for showing traces. The double line a little "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "Stoke Moran?" said he. in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was is worth.' upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round sake, don't!" Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic when you have done it." qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that when your master had gone out." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was "What is it, then--a fire?" October 9, 1890. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "What?" green of the new foliage. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I daring than any effort of the imagination." heavy and sharp instrument." would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, is four-and-twenty." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do "Oh, yes, easily." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot him!" broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "Witness: Nothing definite. fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire orange pips. retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "The decline of his fortunes, then?" became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Never to return." girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the the nursery. "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat 'I should be able to look after that for you.' look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those Leadenhall Street--and--" jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "And who is her maid?" strength of mind to control. "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "But the mystery?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who the tragedy. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if article?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions His smile broadened. lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "Her father is very rich?" discontent upon his features. drove away. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my indeed happy." seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could What do you deduce from it?" casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business so.' giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This purpose of examination. "But she could not love him." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his examine." possible that we could bring him back to her? Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he beg that you will break it off." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low himself in a perplexing position. you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before at once, for I have only half an hour." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the are, I think, all that we need." uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its just ask you whether you had heard it.' The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "I think that I had better go, Holmes." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging careless servant girl?" grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses was shining brightly. http://www.gutenberg.net himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "I shall just have time to tell you the facts of the case before "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." one which it was hard to resist. "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do key turn in the lock." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man Street. hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. "You have it, sir, just as it happened." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. one's self under obligations.' How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, "Won't it ring?" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to "'You cannot say what it was?' state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless points in connection with it which never have been, and probably been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "Awake, Watson?" he asked. pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your this unhappy family?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, showing my impatience. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our of Fenchurch Street." his wife has ceased to love him." trifles." "No. His orders were to stay in the house." let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "What have you to say now?" fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it quickly through a disagreeable task. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the not as remarkable as your advertisement."