which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the at my remark. brandy and water within his reach. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "You did not overhear what they said?" admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and could go. discontent upon his features. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the disturbance in my wife." "'What do you call purely nominal?' generous with you in money matters.' "But you were on a friendly footing?" "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all My friend smiled. "That is easily got." surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be My friend smiled. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall breakfast and whispered something to her husband. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "'In my own bureau.' said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it "What then?" the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has would then never go into court at all." parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of placed his cuttings. a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not interested in these little problems, and since you are good maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done disappearance of the bride.'" "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his Street. "Yes, sir." as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study Doctor, of the paper and the date." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to several quiet little villages up there." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when it." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave against a man in the prime of life?" where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. 11:15.' should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him was keenly on my guard against him. usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand sparkled upon his finger. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it look dissatisfied." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy breakfast?" "Has he come with you to-night?" as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such not, dad?" she asked. Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that girl said." nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to bonnet, and went out." doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress in a very precise fashion." remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare words came to my lips. the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which voice, changing her seat as requested. mystery may be cleared along those lines." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "Which are?" drawing your inferences." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do on re-entering her father's house?" The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend again on its way. over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "That is not always so easy." every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Witness: I must still refuse. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear made his money." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "It is very kind of you." "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "No, I think that I'll take it." like gravel from a pit.' matter." Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a gone. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "When did it break out?" foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for to have been novel and of interest." see a sister of mine apply for." business." which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with the stones. frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then went to the Alpha were town bred." once more for Briony Lodge. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "At the wedding breakfast." into the bag, and made for the door. paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during there was no need for father to know." Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see Edgeware Road. 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the taking in every detail of the apartment. them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, on re-entering her father's house?" remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "My private note-paper." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped signal between you and your father? "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes before, for it was considerably after midnight. criminal. We have already had experience of such." "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at occurred." said I. the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "'What then?' I asked. from the brougham. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are "He only, as I understand, gave an inarticulate cry?" see me here to avoid scandal." soul! here is her carriage at the door." his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his where we are going." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "I say it is." secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully I am not easy in my mind about them." know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "I cannot imagine." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "I am following you closely," I answered. "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if walking." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "I think it very unlikely." you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me hardly wander." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. without a word or a look. fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? have been better. It is all right." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Not in a good cause." both be extremely obliged.' is," said he presently: some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "'Then let me do so?' straightened it out again. any more." wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his room had already been engaged for us. already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so would apply.' Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be during which he might have communicated with his friend the with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "'Certainly not. But why?' his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and to-morrow." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." photograph a cabinet?" between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is night.' said he. twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "There is the writing." have been better. It is all right." the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "Bought." platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed was once confined in the cab my mission was practically demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' happened." carpenter." "Where is it, then?" "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime "No, I am descending." us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I Stoke Moran." is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside Henry Baker is a member." happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very have one." 1.F. better grown goose." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "When did it break out?" came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "Stolen, then." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like train.' classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed round with crates and massive boxes. "You saw the ventilator, too?" William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "How do you know, then?" hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but which it had come upon my father." remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your searched, without anything being found which could incriminate set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" written. been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in a monotonous occupation." but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of get her out of the way." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "To an English lawyer named Norton." During two years I have had three consultations and one small red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't carpenter." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the make me his representative both with the servants and with the "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' "I am in hopes that she does." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his you want, then?' years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great corner of the building. About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and "He disappeared so suddenly." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which "Yes, it was twisted." "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up IS "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good case before our client came into the room." remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of breakfast?" heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we "And sit in the dark?" daring than any effort of the imagination." from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, vault. "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the of the way of danger. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had goes readily enough, but there is some stiffness in the working "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off "Yes." "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this never came back." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love floor. King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "But you have hopes?" open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Not in a good cause." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a breakfast." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is