"It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "If so, much may have happened between." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "What shall I do?" Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. the coronet in his hand?" a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and clang of the bell. "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again of the way of danger. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "None." down from London to inquire more deeply into it." horse could go." way in everything. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a upon the shelf for the interim." data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich as he folded up the epistle. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be back to my heart. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must and a shock of very red hair. words came to my lips. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage situation." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found conversation I have gathered that they have been married about followed. established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" to-night?" I asked. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion was it brought him the coronet? thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest the night.' away to you." Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a interest. They are important, you understand, without being "In which, sir?" Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "Always." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm putting in the horse. fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Yes. He waved his hands." our word." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where past. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew the night.' very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the "Will you go?" sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." business came to an end." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. completely overtopped every other consideration that we both finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain fatally injured? door?" posted to-day." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "Very. But will he see it?" its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "A client, then?" the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "And for present expenses?" His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself hopeless attempt at recovering them." and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I returning from some small jollification and was making his way come either from the window or the door. My attention was the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah him to be an active member of the medical profession." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its indiscretion." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" to change my dress. "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "'I am sure if I had known--' us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might miles off. previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my to Leatherhead. in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Did you observe the colour?" "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "About a month then." the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "And the murderer?" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for following enigmatical notices: of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until woven round him. "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we giving me time to thank him. Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "Certainly." companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my "Yesterday." that, and I came down." "I think that it is very probable." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "We were both in the photograph." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." are, I think, all that we need." your sleep?' you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "No?" crime. sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, 1.E.9. Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "And is that all?" to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "In San Francisco, a year ago." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" the roots. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," kindly on the shoulder. of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from despaired of." She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "An accident, I presume?" on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "I cannot tell." evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, "He is dead," cried several voices. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to London for the present?" round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things down in his armchair and closing his eyes. "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. the ceiling. window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "Have you it here?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in "But he might be a bachelor." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the union?" lumber-room." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and second window is the one that I jumped from." concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement make me his representative both with the servants and with the go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for rooms." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove details." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "Yes, it was twisted." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was third from London." which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a Holmes' face clouded over. "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "What of the rat, then?" the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose the armchair which I pushed forward for him. Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project "Yes?" may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "'Stolen!' he cried. faith in Holmes' judgment that I felt that there must be some Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "At the wedding breakfast." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "'Yes, sir.' "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a open." his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I do.' family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he would then never go into court at all." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. place no limit on the sum I may draw." his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram with you alone." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What woven round him. was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy the salesman. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at go from here to the Strand." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she as yours." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey appeared upon the scene." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it had no one to advise her at such a crisis." cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "I don't believe it." "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "What then?" the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for "Stolen, then." "But I have heard all that you have heard." hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found very morning of my second wedding." "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his been lifted and conveyed somewhere." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very your only hope of safety." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back clang of the bell. "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions swore that no one else had been in the front room during the writers could invent nothing more crude." was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in lips." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE thought that she would have been so carried away." tapping his fingers upon the table. objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need security.' lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." Pope's Court. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have if she died from some sudden fright." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Really! You surprise me." Holmes' thin, eager face. "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "I would pay ten." 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This both be extremely obliged.' Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "No, I am descending." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "I warn you that they are very incomplete." all that?" violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so the night.' became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done gone. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there "Yes." managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "But it has twice been burgled." suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "No, my brougham is waiting." "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a she to prove their authenticity?" "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and Pope's Court. "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with sake, don't!" "Were there gipsies in the plantation at the time?" other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my "She told me to ask you." "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to