glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Ten will be early enough." "And what did you learn from him?" "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "What will you do, then?" copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked went to the Alpha were town bred." four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Well, some hundreds of times." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property records." company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and me what he had done with the three missing stones. arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and I think that I could be of assistance to you." and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get then?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by Foundation customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "How do you know, then?" It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King true." "'There is a drive, then?' Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'And what salary do you ask?' description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been business at Coburg Square is serious." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "By all means." 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "'Never.' Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "We must have a cab." "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and head. So long, then!" traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of You can understand that this register and diary may implicate events than those which have happened in my own family." I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an strode off upon his way. "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez was a lad." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I beg that you will break it off." even so self-evident a thing as that." law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side I leave." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger invisible to me," I remarked. "But I am all in the dark." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know me, and I could not think that his explanation of the All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "It is a murder, then?" them present such singular features as the strange train of listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his be. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." This is what he says: Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. second window is the one that I jumped from." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "And Miss Sutherland?" believe that I should never have any practice at all. "I have solved it." Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect quite distinctive." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you chemical work which was so dear to him. "None." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She observed. tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, It may be so in this case, also." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. in my life." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up you give your casting vote to?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition you." future lives." "Then, as to money?" "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant morning." "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "Which surely he restored to their owner?" letters?" said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder shadow pass over his face as I spoke. temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of fire. You quite follow me?" lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has again, where I was soon asleep. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and would then never go into court at all." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird morning." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the it." what these perils are?" and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "'You cannot say what it was?' his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in ashen face. together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing a very grave face. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the someone who had been in Australia." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "One horse?" interjected Holmes. which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Look there!" said he. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you to-night." two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "'Ample.' which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Street. we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience could not account in any way for the presence of the missing of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and than the other. I could not imagine a man of your habits looking are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have for and were ordered to this address. "Oh, she has turned all the men's heads down in that part. She is Eyford at 11:15.' these bleak autumnal evenings." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." go from here to the Strand." a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to showing my impatience. quite distinctive." bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "Perhaps I have." puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. "I beg pardon." rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view used for political purposes, principally for the terrorising of "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "And who is her maid?" "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good sparkled upon his finger. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of unkempt, staring out at me. would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into during which he might have communicated with his friend the furiously. the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "By train from Waterloo." my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP down. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so past. from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a to me. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy prepare for the new role I have to play." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, entirely lost his self-respect." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself "Your sister is dead, then?" system of imprisonment?" the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with will take you up to see the machine.' without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "Nothing." safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first it? Did I buy the geese off you?" he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. the warnings." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' heavily into it. caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This suggested at once that there must be a communication between the possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the families. Now for the facts. about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in to Leatherhead. and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way allusion to a rat. "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "Then, how do you know?" "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "But she could not love him." examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would arrested. You then--" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing seem to you to be relevant or not." five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was "I think that I had better go, Holmes." One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you if she died from some sudden fright." which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "What then?" even so self-evident a thing as that." one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate through my fingers. I have been at work upon it all day." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple digesting their breakfasts at home." also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and horse could go." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Not yet." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Perhaps I have." his knees, staring into the fire. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "And how in the world did you find them?" "'Most admirably.' "Yes." endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of closely." "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Quite so." "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself IS habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. your only hope of safety." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried observed. perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from the driver. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "None. Neville wrote those words." ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no The police have openly confessed that they can at present make reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this "At what time?" absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." if I call to-morrow?" "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this depend upon my doing so.' "'Is 4 pounds a week.' disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and to his chemical studies. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "None. Neville wrote those words." perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "My stepfather's business papers." "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I you for a few hours?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that I am not easy in my mind about them." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home you found me to-night--and running through the front room she not personally threatened." "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the the south-west, I see." warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to awkward doing business with an alias." and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for to a more successful conclusion." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were breakfast?" it were putty." anything to do with the matter?" drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." be.' vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, and your relations to her." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, dates and names. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "What I expected to see." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and "And Miss Sutherland?" to some other building. "Very much so." "Deserted you?" Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "In San Francisco, a year ago." from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. next day. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the just ask you whether you had heard it.' Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I were new raised from a basin. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was