along the entire front of the house, with three long windows bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence front of me. down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "Whose house is it?" distinguish the words: Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "What steps will you take?" I asked. We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while "One of the highest in England." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." Toller to bear the news to his wife, I did what I could to problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "On the contrary, this is the right side." him." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "I should be immensely obliged to you." "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round know all about it," he snarled. in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen present." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall of." "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "Witness: Nothing definite. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. better grown goose." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "This concluded the examination of the witness." from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of cigars in the box." Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from said he. "Nothing?" wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a morning." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and roused himself from his reverie. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was Eyford." thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "Nothing." will take you up to see the machine.' "How can you tell that?" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Literary Archive Foundation "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I London for the present?" woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official newspaper selections." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "None." "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup "And when will you call?" thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "'Certainly not. But why?' when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent long narrative. certainly not very gracious." "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. the matter?" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of you." strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the is a common subject for conversation. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father other lovers by making love himself." "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. gone before you can get him to hospital." step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as your most interesting statement." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled joking. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case heavy with snow and his features as inscrutable as ever. evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been nonsense.' the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "That was it, sir." The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and as he folded up the epistle. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had "No sign of it?" "Breckinridge is his name." her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little hopeless attempt at recovering them." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very "Where did you address your letters, then?" "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden pound a week." train.' we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the taking in every detail of the apartment. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes particular state visit http://pglaf.org And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it DAMAGE. the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' desk. this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton these bleak autumnal evenings." envelope. During two years I have had three consultations and one small request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. himself to tell his story. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" since then to throw any light upon what became of him." to-night?' drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Yes." at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing of the vacancies.' "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. is a common subject for conversation. on in his house." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Why did you pick him?" like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and forbidden door. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "Which surely he restored to their owner?" derbies." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "'Yes, sir.' "Nothing." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. open." prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "Witness: I must still refuse. was lame." tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and promised to bring home. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp might help us?" became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "Then I can wait in the next room." ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from I held the little printed slip to the light. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" grasp, he hurried from the room. his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "What shall I do?" Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a which we had just quitted. I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "'Yes, sir.' providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! call you and give you the chance." more terrible than the truth. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but attention." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. true." the side-table." offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, For additional contact information: intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little had no one to advise her at such a crisis." triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate from the brougham. were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If colonel looking down at me. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was quick march!" body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an my room." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could how narrow had been my escape. it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project have one." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk one or two very singular points about this room. For example, tightly behind him. "'I shall certainly be there.' "VIOLET HUNTER." "I am all attention, madam." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I put this piece of paper which you have shown us into the brass "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. the inner apartment." Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my is now desirous of getting those letters back." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less "You did not overhear what they said?" "'Most admirably.' recover the gem." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "'I am sure if I had known--' can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case weapon." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to public press." to tell." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with absolutely follow my advice in every respect." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "Nothing." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a made his money." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident I nodded again. it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "But you can know nothing of this?" recover the gem." hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this morning." professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight "But the mystery?" and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and From what you have told me I think that it is possible that "'What, the red-headed man?' "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man stalked out of the room. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have that you wished to speak to me?' bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I would then never go into court at all." passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is "He said that you could solve anything." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "'I have heard so.' to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number here and I will read it to you: Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "I cannot tell." any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. taking in every detail of the apartment. thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" at once, for I have only half an hour." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way definite end. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about one of them." "I was sure that I might rely on you." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Holmes, the busybody!" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt politicians who had been sent down from the North. have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of three of the beryls in it, was missing. successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached shaken than I had ever seen him. "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my minor matters until to-morrow." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his "Always." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, must be when I saw the door open.' your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in away in different directions, and I went off to make my own Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" "A call for help, you thought?" "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and strong reason behind." had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without disappearance of the bride.'" places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair Street. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. triumphant cloud from his cigarette. reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. Mrs. Toller serenely. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a over part of the map. "What do you read?" was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning of a light. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. What do you deduce from it?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" recall any case within my experience which looked at the first Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to quickly through a disagreeable task. step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you