Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, your Highness to the police-station?" "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was if only as a check to my own memory." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at of the vacancies.' branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a "And how did you find out?" The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The detective. "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "That is possible." your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw wall." Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there lectures into a series of tales." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own this unhappy family?" it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have confronted him. "What then?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Come in!" said he. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience it. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "What! a murderous attack?" "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" standing smiling on the door-step. knowledge of the world." about here speaks of his kindness to him." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "By train from Waterloo." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. several quiet little villages up there." is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have leave you to your papers for a little." to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "Pray continue your narrative." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. that?' akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Then I do not see the point." it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This meanly of me." while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime For additional contact information: Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I and prosperity to your house. Good-night." Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with remarked. "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little wedding?" heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps the very morning of the wedding." ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon daring than any effort of the imagination." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." that there was nothing in it, after all." week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just nonsense.' the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office events than those which have happened in my own family." received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in the salesman. coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the carpenter." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "Not in a good cause." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from years back, but this has broken him down completely. He has taken doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty "Certainly." case-book, which he consulted. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "It came here." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at hurried away. "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly became a certainty. John Swain, of St. Augustine. which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. unkempt, staring out at me. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, digesting their breakfasts at home." master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the father's place of business?" the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to redistribution. "Precisely so. But how--" fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "At half-wages, in fact." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." one of the states of the Union." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and "Then I shall certainly come." Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. III. "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody their singular warning or token before them when starting upon http://www.gutenberg.net bearing upon the case." "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "'Ample.' "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud during the last few years, and there are many noble families to acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to were unconscious?" gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked you want, then?' finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an to some other building. our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of I leave." the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "No, I think that I'll take it." dear old homesteads?" Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so straighten it?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists really the only notable feature about the thing." bedroom door." over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged "How did you trace it, then?" "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful long narrative. among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the believe that I should never have any practice at all. smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was the matter?" a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Did he not advertise?" struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. "Could he throw no light?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional long narrative. obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your good-night and bustled off upon her way. made him keep the appointment." himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been the matter." permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." "I am sure we owe you an apology, Mrs. Toller," said Holmes, "for continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but these bleak autumnal evenings." Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of it with his own hands." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling prison!" Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. hand, with its writhing fingers, protruded out of the floor. Then the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where than to us. A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the you understand?" "My dear Holmes!" "I will do it." step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the the window, rose as we entered. "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. I approached. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so the salesman. central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, corner of the building. Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such very morning of my second wedding." obstinate." I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the such person." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" The summons was a brief and urgent one. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. "We must have a cab." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who public press." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up round and wave him away like that.' another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he reach." "But to whom?" "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the "The knees of his trousers." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this the devil!" trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "What is it?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" we went to search for him, face downward in a little he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Then the page we have seen--" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an himself to tell his story. clanging. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler the King without delay." (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That "Your sister is dead, then?" "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a hardly wander." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. question," said Holmes, smiling. a few minutes he said that it would be all right. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes friends, not even his own brother. "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "'Quite sure, dad.' "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear opened a pocket-book and took out a note. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. national property. I was determined that the law should have its that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is said Mr. Holder. must be when I saw the door open.' in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my at home. allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did cup of tea. "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up any." broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had visitors." "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So into her hand at the door and which lured her within their see a sister of mine apply for." But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with a few minutes he said that it would be all right. "My own seal." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend direction." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "It was most suggestive," said Holmes. "It has long been an axiom donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips his face. had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "To an English lawyer named Norton." threw himself down with his face to the pillow. wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a you?' circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain figure." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." late!' I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the following enigmatical notices: "You are certainly joking, Holmes." at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "I am in hopes that she does." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "The Coroner: What do you mean? trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' constraint." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any my secret was safe in his possession. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not now. It seems that there had been some informality about their Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small