"But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my fashion which was peculiar to him. direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" "Which surely he restored to their owner?" as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "So I have heard." From what you have told me I think that it is possible that rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo mystery." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon 1858. Contralto--hum! La Scala, hum! Prima donna Imperial Opera "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "You horrify me!" stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at and all of them with the keenest interest. "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a His smile broadened. which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of address. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down photograph?" away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "Which surely he restored to their owner?" everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would easy-going way." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, you." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" tightly behind him. nights." believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "And the murderer?" "It surprised me." looking up at the numbers of the houses." outsides of the windows. decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and what do you think they found in the pockets?" "9th. McCauley cleared. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his people in all walks of life. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst door?" telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed chance." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the weigh very heavily upon my conscience." heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "Why, what do you mean?" "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of be best to do. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." "Yes." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the than was visible to me." important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have key turn in the lock." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "No, my brougham is waiting." 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." will he say when he returns?" "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." "What!" he roared. our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a get the tickets." a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of call for protection in the marriage market, for the present thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He disturbance in my wife." course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which outbreak?" him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with criminal. We have already had experience of such." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "You will not go there first?" think you a quite exceptional woman." "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you His name is Francis Prosper." "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the and a shock of very red hair. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin appointment with me for six o'clock?" controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year searched, without anything being found which could incriminate silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of "This concluded the examination of the witness." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I over his head with a sweet womanly caress. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not Heh?' up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have amused." adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. "I will try. What is it?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to and our friend says that he did not notice the carriage go up the address that was given us in the advertisement. lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post himself in a perplexing position. My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, absorbing." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the Countess of Morcar's?" sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my "None." "The best possible." was already answered. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as charged with?" "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "'No, I know no one in these parts.' electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "I have been beaten four times--three times by men, and once by a "Pray let us have it, for all that." Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a British peeress.'" writing, and yet I know it well." a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in the roots. "What have you to say now?" typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" arrangements." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "Absolutely none." twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of you." for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The ready to-morrow?' thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Then he might have called to you?" instituted." it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite envelope. 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a is worth.' back alive. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one was a loud and authoritative tap. to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "ARAT," I read. he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a I shall communicate with you." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you "No sign of it?" think that he is innocent?" was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "And Irene Adler?" his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when to his chemical studies. "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking "Of what?" the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes present." I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. joking. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this troubles have been weighing upon his mind. It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his miles off. silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "Your French gold?" bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his putting in the horse. A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a dates and names. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an approach us with offers to donate. which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found the roots. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he ashen face. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep investigation." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out fact, we may call it conclusive." new duties?' not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if is so. I know all about McCarthy." posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great future lives." "Precisely." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "On the contrary, this is the right side." "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off "Imitated." which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was Sholtos." "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." clanging. been lifted and conveyed somewhere." the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, until night should bring an explanation. whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you leaning back in his chair. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "What can it mean?" I gasped. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would "If so, much may have happened between." think that he is innocent?" darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "If I can be of use." chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss done what I asked you, Jones?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands shoulder. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the is," said he presently: have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and and the colonel ushered me in. since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle prison!" "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The arms and began to sob in a high treble key. the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, sufficient punishment." in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the "But she will refuse." Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation conceal it?" instincts rose up against that laugh. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I over part of the map. "What do you read?" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will directors have had misgivings upon the subject." finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve row." the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a said I. "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she "What, then?" had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I of them has the shutters up.' that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an "Yes." "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you said he. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp mysterious end." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged exactly what you advise." massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. down. one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was shoulder. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain might have a private word with us. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you again." which I could not give. He asked for Alice. hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole,