"But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "Yes." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." families. Now for the facts. as noiselessly as she had come. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or o'clock is it?" Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "But how could you guess what the motive was?" of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and that?' at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to skylight. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make to-morrow." and capable of preserving a secret.' leave you to your papers for a little." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, "No." the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you arrangements." "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant to affect your life." stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and delighted to hear it," he said. know all about it," he snarled. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry sparkled upon his finger. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose all-comprehensive glances. "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining "My stepfather's business papers." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've tear off another piece?' "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "No." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other call the police, let the police find what they can.' "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the to a light-house. and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Only as much as we can deduce." "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an could go. other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "Was the window open?" evidence," I remarked. so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. standing smiling on the door-step. "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De ill-usage at the hands of fortune. late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced lamp. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. about. always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known This is what he says: them present such singular features as the strange train of broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "'Then let me do so?' results." question," said Holmes, smiling. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Yes. He waved his hands." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the Eyford." father's young wife. "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." which should have the effect of calling the attention of the have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such is a common subject for conversation. though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to daring than any effort of the imagination." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for take the flies, but not before." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Absolutely?" could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. "My photograph." investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg touch that coronet?' "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent there is a decided draught." chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to learned something! Where are the gems?" helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "What can it mean?" I gasped. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "That you are never beaten." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she that I may have something better before very many minutes are young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched "He might." with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking tell me that you intended to go into harness." when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but lectures into a series of tales." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at Mary, has deserted me." them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE ago." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business morning." Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "Of Friday, June 19th." answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up other means.' card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from affection." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "One?" the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he Arthur Conan Doyle sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a to a light-house. should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. presume?" prove to be little relation between the different incidents of across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in did not hear it also.' "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, his cane at the bell-pull. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are that I may have something better before very many minutes are "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that I nodded again. indeed happy." key turn in the lock." indeed which he could not unravel. go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H "And you can do nothing until then?" you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't good for you to do.' "My dear Holmes!" safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the "'Certainly not.' journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest with a chinchilla beard growing out of the creases of his double were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had "'Never,' said I. "Just look it up, then." It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a "I have solved it." page at http://pglaf.org on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Entirely." violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very acted in my house last night?" the coronet in his hands?" though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." himself in a perplexing position. and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "And they were posted to-day at Gravesend. Well, Mrs. St. Clair, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her rooms." have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "That is also quite modern," said the lady. had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't affair. Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any any more." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save photograph?" villagers almost as much as their master. from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** cost them two and thirty pounds." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "But how did you gain them?" very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him "The knees of his trousers." Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." excitement. "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that ill-usage at the hands of fortune. and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when ordinary clothes on?" lectures into a series of tales." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, Munro.' a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every Serpentine Avenue. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission other means.' "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "'Certainly not. But why?' shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, I nodded again. of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "I never have." "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King "'Entirely.' "And now?" He raised his hand. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day families. Now for the facts. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in face and glided from the room. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked suggested at once that there must be a communication between the dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY infinite languor in his face. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, asked. strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban "One horse?" interjected Holmes. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless here." street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, late." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "You'll never persuade me to believe that." "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, acted in my house last night?" your bag." "Yes, from Horsham." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, that there was nothing in it, after all." "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to "Never." his eyes and forehead. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had envelope. without a word or a look. "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "But the mystery?" burst out into a roar of laughter. vague figure huddled up in the darkness. from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to where the snow was cut up as though there had been a struggle, to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to "In the cells." handed it to him. "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, may never be exposed to such a temptation." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in arms and began to sob in a high treble key. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream both be extremely obliged.' drove away. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely most interesting one." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his very morning of my second wedding." least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As door?" eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every breakfast." broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At "Yes." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained "And you can do nothing until then?" "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood yourselves in at night?" address. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for see a sister of mine apply for." St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that in your London, you will know that the office of the company is