parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this sooner or later she must fall a victim. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was carpenter." have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." a room. Foundation "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes gone. sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "Then, how do you know?" man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small depend upon your compliance." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, your most interesting statement." "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend done what I asked you, Jones?" common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "Dr. Becher's." "Ample." Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a "I came to find a friend." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when "Game for a morning drive?" determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "Do you receive much company?" he asked. meant." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant everything which you would wish to know." scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "That was it, sir." "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap infinite languor in his face. homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "'Never.' liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in key of the affair now." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "You have the photograph?" "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in digesting their breakfasts at home." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project must compliment you." round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "To ruin me." Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case father's place of business?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "You are hungry," I remarked. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and passage and a tap at the door. What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "But your client--" at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One was once confined in the cab my mission was practically upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the I shall continue with my miserable story. been shamefully used." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "Where did you address your letters, then?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily to you." that he has suffered." office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this the coronet in his hand?" "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong "That you are never beaten." Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about cause to be." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE this Miss Turner." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. II. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love because she had spent so short a time in this country that she "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Who was the criminal, then?" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "Yes, they were peculiar boots." King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss nights." as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the death." "I will do it." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "And why?" "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "And help." machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "Yes. He waved his hands." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train morning." "One?" the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the bachelor.' It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "Yes, it was twisted." "Nothing." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the imbecility!" he cried. children over to America with him, so that I found myself without neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the that I can to serve you." you." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the empty. infinite languor in his face. old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, "But you would not advise me to refuse?" events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "My last client of the sort was a king." that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "But I have heard all that you have heard." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed ashen face. the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our McCarthy's innocence. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a amused." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it room had already been engaged for us. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. one's self under obligations.' until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had congenial hunt. the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, you?' handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "'I have heard so.' that which you have placed before us--no suggestive detail which The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a "It is possible." rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of fattened it expressly for you.' neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the of the way of danger. dear old homesteads?" Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "And you don't know his address?" had picked up in the wood. minor matters until to-morrow." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project them?" unprecedented a position." "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "I have seen the police." "Very. But will he see it?" returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." beg that you will break it off." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in himself. spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white "An enemy?" manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long coat-tails." lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." the night.' furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the Surrey." started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge retorted upon me, and I on you." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I weighed down with some great anxiety. "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how Cross for the Continent." chance at all." Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." to have been novel and of interest." more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank have been better. It is all right." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more "I was sure that I might rely on you." Chief Executive and Director "He said that you could solve anything." With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution McCarthy." which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it seem to you to be relevant or not." Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "Yes, it would be as well." your Highness to the police-station?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite forebodings. "A confidential servant?" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out to you." home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy you?" a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have my special province." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "No, thank goodness, she did not." drove away. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "What have you done?" asked Holmes. habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, to have that photograph." to some other building. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more "It surprised me." Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "'Yes, it was gone.' upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "You'll never persuade me to believe that." sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and without a word or a look. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful lamp in his hand. was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Seven!" I answered. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "That sounds a little paradoxical." where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat Holmes' thin, eager face. "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a papers must be those that are destroyed.' railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I as this. Pray let me have the details." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would electronic works "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left Holmes' thin, eager face. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored shoulder; "he's all right." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we had formerly been in part my own. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, of fine shops and stately business premises that they really central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his union?" into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. character. the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him said he. "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "'Ten to two.' Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "That is it on the dressing-table." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "He disappeared so suddenly." 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man upon a handsome competence. to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall father's young wife. jewels which you have stolen?' increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be tapping his fingers upon the table. "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the "'Stolen!' he cried. "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital "'I have already given you my word.' "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and all that he had left it there. 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