the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "What, then, did Peterson do?" subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer words came to my lips. myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the obstinate." impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "You were travelling in the States?" you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature fait accompli?" papers must be those that are destroyed.' grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "To the police?" "Yes, there are nearly always some there." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it respectable self." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of to-night?' plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. night.' said he. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. of the vacancies.' villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must was a lad." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he prisoner's face. fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." interested in these little problems, and since you are good feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made voice, changing her seat as requested. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders go back?" away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "'Quite sure, dad.' "I should be immensely obliged to you." allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the read it out to me." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain several quiet little villages up there." me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "'A dozen yards or so.' Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge "It is half-past ten now." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas not use it unless it is absolutely needed." carried out of court." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an you." "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and was shining brightly. corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "He disappeared so suddenly." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small to miss it." a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles now. It seems that there had been some informality about their again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I hour." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "He is dead," cried several voices. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to delirious. "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few so far?" "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable because she had spent so short a time in this country that she is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of third from London." woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "Not him." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white Holmes' room. "Your French gold?" sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. depend upon my doing so.' so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a since then to throw any light upon what became of him." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a to affect your life." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me floor. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." for securing the situation." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, success. was a perfect sample of the class. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "I never have." the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from "It looks newer than the other things?" "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else that?' have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "And on what day did he meet his death?" be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in envelope. straighten it?" comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. to-morrow." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" morning." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I this Miss Turner." refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something what is your own theory as to what took place?" turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. my little problems." practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We shaken than I had ever seen him. professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell man. 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. "Not in the least." "Not in the least." been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "It looks newer than the other things?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "You have the photograph?" defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my rooms." we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "'Entirely.' little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Witness: Nothing definite. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive me where it went to?" learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a presented more singular features than that which was associated "It is possible." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred served to weaken the effect. "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching business." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the character. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Game for a morning drive?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." "And what then?" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "Where is it, then?" "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." surprise. "Do you mean that she has left England?" suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found purpose of examination. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for knowledge of the world." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. galvanised. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors you." and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a crowd. "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "It goes to the housekeeper's room." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We how narrow had been my escape. "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed "I beg pardon." so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into power." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips "The landlord of the Alpha." are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon them?" thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the crime. swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His "We must have a cab." case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small hereditary King of Bohemia." "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first "'I am afraid that it is quite essential,' said he. 'It is a up this clue while it is still hot." "So I heard. You have him here?" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I fire. You quite follow me?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "Dark enough and sinister enough." have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying guilty one." "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. straightened it out again. to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his "You don't mind breaking the law?" prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, of the street, and in ten minutes was rejoiced to find my sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have off." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." would apply.' He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the be sorry for having acted so harshly." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of gone before you can get him to hospital." that you can jump it.' down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window and have this put in the evening papers." "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Very well, sir. And this stone?" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that British peeress.'" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated questionable one." "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural http://www.gutenberg.net have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. best detective that ever lived. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for distinguish the words: desk. "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "'How far from the body?' week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a "Have you it here?" "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to maiden herself was most instructive." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "I do." the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for to change my dress. am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their "If I can be of use." "Yes, there are nearly always some there." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall beg that you will break it off." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would "Yes." leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "Her father is very rich?" "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any salesman. you want, then?' their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "I don't say that. Perhaps." comes from the middle window." came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I been lifted and conveyed somewhere." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "My private note-paper." lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "You have it, sir, just as it happened." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "No good news?" bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing the child." piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband newspaper selections." laugh and put his lips to my ear. crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had the Red-headed League." "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me one of them." family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep bachelor.' been shamefully used."