"Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "Have you her photograph?" "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one shadow pass over his face as I spoke. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my residence of the great financier. definite end. "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My the running down." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." foot. "I have seen the police." it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." notes," he said. in one or two places in England?' a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Why, it's a dummy," said he. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause fluttered off among the others. humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" success. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against handed it to him. his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" "It must be recovered." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such into the bag, and made for the door. my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "'Certainly not. But why?' 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation will be renamed. hard-headed British jury." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same quite distinctive." call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the little opening for the ventilator is." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "Certainly." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the business came to an end." "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. "What is it, then--a fire?" suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling him nearly every evening." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner hereditary King of Bohemia." something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I weary and pale-looking. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and the running down." Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend depend upon your compliance." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some me have 200 pounds?' along the entire front of the house, with three long windows had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked said he. them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out fuss that is made over them." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off Where does the thing come from?' have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on one of the states of the Union." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. system of imprisonment?" greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me you found me to-night--and running through the front room she of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should observed. need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis "Then the page we have seen--" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "Has he come with you to-night?" came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had tension within him. He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich once more. "What?" He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from call the police, let the police find what they can.' it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man I have it here in my museum." wall." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt bonnet, and went out." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Seven!" I answered. to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope one of the states of the Union." "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no "Yes, only one." down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project My friend smiled. fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "But you have hopes?" platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an new duties?' coroner's jury." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "'No, I know no one in these parts.' before, for it was considerably after midnight. bachelor.' "The landlord of the Alpha." round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to do.' "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "The murder was done with it." knowledge of the world." place--within ten miles of Reading. I was fortunate enough to London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one "But how did you gain them?" "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me one of them." in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing cigars in the box." "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "No more words. Get out!" until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger just called myself is not exactly my own." waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little tapping his fingers upon the table. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Yes." villagers almost as much as their master. We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of were wasted." filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "That is it on the dressing-table." to tell." "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting copied or distributed: "Where is it, then?" "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the business matters.' of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the once more on the important position which you have been fortunate may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "One of his hands." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the we went to search for him, face downward in a little waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is "'Oh, no.' telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay problems help me to do so." noting anything else of interest. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some "What steps will you take?" I asked. he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon one of them." "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under I think that I could be of assistance to you." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "'Is purely nominal.' you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong indeed happy." clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "And the cigar-holder?" "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day during which he might have communicated with his friend the case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the character. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. that I may have something better before very many minutes are red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's golden eyeglasses. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a "You know me, then?" my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be opportunities to fix the problem. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a "No bad?" has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some the dangers which encompass me." manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's Eyford." away in different directions, and I went off to make my own conversation I have gathered that they have been married about nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her leaning back in his chair. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you something of him before." notes," he said. "But his lameness?" fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "Of what?" "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons where she found matters as described by the last witness. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "Just look it up, then." call the police, let the police find what they can.' undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If Holmes' face clouded over. didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "Where is it, then?" sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who touch that coronet?' "This concluded the examination of the witness." "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He tension within him. however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "How are you getting on?" photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached formed some opinion?" Pool. muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my tell me that you intended to go into harness." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "It is solved." in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Who was the criminal, then?" she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of "No, I shall commence with the City. Just ring the bell and the "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "I could hardly believe my ears. As you may observe, Mr. Holmes, be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' "'Yes, sir.' even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "Pray do so." more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong it right.' rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of "What of the rat, then?" helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united habit of advancing money.' the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a Doctor, of the paper and the date." Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party your sleep?' the King without delay." "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he "'Where could I find him?' cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "It is his hat." "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those I have it here in my museum." "Where, indeed?" "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "I answered that I had not. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and "Then I can wait in the next room." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that row." Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the was lame." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty something of him before." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Now, then, what's the last entry?" made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, strong and stiff." all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from meanly of me." for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my girl said." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I discontent upon his features. places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his outside." in darkness. think that any burglar could have done. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE truth. Now, I knew that it was not you who had brought it down, who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. photograph?" for and were ordered to this address. same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy following enigmatical notices: serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had bed dies. Does not that strike you?" and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but "To an end?" "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the "What I expected to see." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of to arrive at through this?" The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no the morning and make my own way in the world.' shadow pass over his face as I spoke. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you money should be paid at once.' that I am arrested." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down shall not find me ungrateful." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the round with crates and massive boxes. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know tapping his fingers upon the table. invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me