felt?" should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be was shining brightly. nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! presented more singular features than that which was associated not come at once?" "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose Arthur Conan Doyle deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would was shining brightly. "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she "Not him." "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That 'I should be able to look after that for you.' VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and just ask you whether you had heard it.' refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "I was sure that I might rely on you." this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not some place of shelter and let the county police know what has foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE thought that she would have been so carried away." not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is his fortune, and I went back to pa. where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was 1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "Frequently." in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the paper in the air. may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make II. when your master had gone out." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: brought there to personate someone, and the real person is Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Absolutely?" had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you dead, shall be safe with us." and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was speckled band?" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly with frightened eyes at his accuser. cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "You saw the ventilator, too?" I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." to have been novel and of interest." It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Stolen, then." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, friend's singular character. clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never "Because he was handy and would come cheap." determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for second window is the one that I jumped from." sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." the best of training." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution that threaten you." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Entirely." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "Really! You surprise me." "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless round with crates and massive boxes. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Married! When?" they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase acquaintance?" stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. not use it unless it is absolutely needed." once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which look upon these things in a different way." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, and wait." and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence guilty one." then?" is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A Holmes." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "You have the photograph?" of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but generous with you in money matters.' were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a hereditary King of Bohemia." evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's as the one I chose?' just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds asked with his eyes open. the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" think that any burglar could have done. week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "What then?" agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak house for five minutes.' been shamefully used." hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his the house with me." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every This is what he says: "If I can be of use." "I have said that though the floor and ceiling were of iron, the 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" adjusted temperament was to introduce a distracting factor which "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." and that he would see to anything that turned up. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. memory. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the appointment with me for six o'clock?" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of awaited us upon the table. Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." and a shock of very red hair. upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your cigars in their mouths. slow staccato fashion, choosing his words with care, and gave the "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, over to mother, and I find that I can do pretty well with what I and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "And who is her maid?" it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." you." "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" infinite languor in his face. breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened locked." "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of astonishment. gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., it." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is you in yours." Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? o'clock is it?" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss away in different directions, and I went off to make my own you, my dear young lady?' wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Yes." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six later, upon the night of May 2nd." I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "What then?" subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. existence." country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this appointment with me for six o'clock?" secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and you want, then?' "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. gone. crime. other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was this truth that in these little records of our cases which you to his chemical studies. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. the stable lane now." ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm in the hope of finding them." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "Deserted you?" peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a foresight and the moral retrogression?" The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the locked." central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "And when will you call?" for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or But Holmes shook his head gravely. "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking important." was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective colour had been driven from his face. are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project the Friday. Was it to be in church?" what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "Well, but China?" "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." detective. frequently gained my first real insight into the character of and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "What are they?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the very old mansion. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. not fit the lock." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds was the fact that his father should, according to his account, to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, "Yes." wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop was lame." "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite lost his Christmas dinner." prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her The summons was a brief and urgent one. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That heavily into it. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my to a light-house. looking up at the numbers of the houses." but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a prove to be little relation between the different incidents of notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has cigar and let me expound." down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have your billet.' that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations soul! here is her carriage at the door." sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "You think so, too?" "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the are, and they are waiting for us." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, straightened it out again. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, this man was intellectual?" week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "I shall be delighted." mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. corner of the building. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been door?" Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured some mystery and the punishment of some crime." had formerly been in part my own. "No, my brougham is waiting." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. already been minutely examined." hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "No legal papers or certificates?" In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap "'It is locked up,' I answered. much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in one of them." upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "So I am. Very much so." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I man. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Oh, the cause is excellent!" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were chamber." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met Mrs. Toller serenely. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face must compliment you." mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of you, my dear young lady?' the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already It was close upon four before the door opened, and a closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "My dear Holmes!" equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His stood on the top of it. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and as he remarks, very much against the son." wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "No, thank goodness, she did not." total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little is a common subject for conversation. seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "And from a noble client?" come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I was once confined in the cab my mission was practically believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some spark where all is dark to me." cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." drunkard. I ran to her and threw my arms round her, but at that reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me IS "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. the iron safe, which he closed upon it. rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled dramatic, in fact." While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly nearly all my data. May I ask whether you were seated at the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. daring than any effort of the imagination."