even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special "That was it, sir." near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate that you can jump it.' absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are back to my heart. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have sooner or later she must fall a victim. He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy less than 26s. 4d. to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so such attractions and accomplishments?' but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is "And that is--" records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as spare." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and "And now?" He raised his hand. The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Did he not advertise?" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "Perhaps I have." at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" "Quite so." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had of this gang." she sat for some time, chatting about her approaching wedding. At marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and strong reason behind." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden ago." that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the any more." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, chance at all." the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" "Pray tell us what has happened to you." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "I am about to be married." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I to have been novel and of interest." forecastle of an emigrant ship. noting anything else of interest. license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which fluttered off among the others. ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' disappearance of these gems?" "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp there in twenty minutes." gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the "Certainly." I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "No." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight is a common subject for conversation. his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he business." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "What can it mean?" I gasped. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "Game for a morning drive?" Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this hurried by. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "But how did you gain them?" The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out "'Ten to two.' searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or directors have had misgivings upon the subject." since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for answer." "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in pictures, libraries, or plate. details." been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," with her." in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "But the mystery?" the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, your co-operation." long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the usually people there. This man, however, was leaning against the retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might Does that suggest anything?" "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not if I call to-morrow?" "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs just ask you whether you had heard it.' "How are you getting on?" not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. him!" transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place obstinate." over his head with a sweet womanly caress. pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." heavily into it. knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "I think it very unlikely." "Absolutely none." mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." McCarthy's innocence. have been better. It is all right." being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "My dear Holmes!" "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very discontent upon his features. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, "Ha! you find it so?" walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of are, I think, all that we need." see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having for its centre. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in examine." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be more terrible than the truth. correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of "And that is--" pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by your room." her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old during that time.' "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for directors have had misgivings upon the subject." introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not "An enemy?" overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I figure." their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre her also." the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced habit of advancing money.' "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "Indeed! Whose, then?" old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. where she found matters as described by the last witness. enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is brought there to personate someone, and the real person is discontent upon his features. ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned peculiar to him. fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but away to you." and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a again on its way. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "I have seen the police." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "I will, Miss Turner." naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there quite distinctive." "Certainly, madam." present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be have the date of the reception by your uncle of the letter, and Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San father's young wife. point in the dark hollow of his hand. and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I "I will not look." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side minor matters until to-morrow." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was noise which awoke you from your sleep?" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become "'Yes, I promise.' remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover during that time.' instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any round and wave him away like that.' was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for gigantic client. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as yet." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in "Will you bet, then?" "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the and it need not interfere very much with one's other the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of "You horrify me!" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I the morning and make my own way in the world.' been able to understand it, in a very few words. "No, I had a dozen." might have a private word with us. "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." me, and I could not think that his explanation of the its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "And for present expenses?" "And the murderer?" premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom of a light. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. tell him that I know him to be innocent." old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at was already answered. "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." in a very precise fashion." rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "But how will you look?" "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the yourselves in at night?" amused." fasten all the windows?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at "Yes, that is the Crown." likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I call you and give you the chance." "Your French gold?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should leave you to your papers for a little." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to instituted." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, the roots. the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." "You have but to name it." bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the bled considerably." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow would then never go into court at all." the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "You have carte blanche." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who served to weaken the effect. really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "We have tried and failed." the loss of it. them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found husband's writing, madam." keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Doctor, of the paper and the date." place no limit on the sum I may draw." Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. weary and pale-looking. just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how "It surprised me." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "What then?" young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, call you and give you the chance." help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face this truth that in these little records of our cases which you can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned I have it here in my museum." Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the strong and stiff." "I came to find a friend." Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, without success. At last the little money which I had saved began dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Yes, I have one waiting." "And why?" ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your case-book, which he consulted. "My dear Holmes!" father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "Quite so." his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. Project Gutenberg-tm works. "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the 11:15.' light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no "But it has twice been burgled." conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to that the gas is not laid on in his house?" said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had obstinate." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "I have solved it." just called myself is not exactly my own." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both she to prove their authenticity?" "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I business." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no you understand?" little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few could gather together that I was able to avert another public the iron safe, which he closed upon it. directors, with the result that you have seen." which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, is so. I know all about McCarthy." views." THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE and a shock of very red hair. the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds like gravel from a pit.' unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my