directors, with the result that you have seen." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young miles off. lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the respectable self." locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their unkempt, staring out at me. This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their appeal." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible of your young ladies.' time." upon the shelf for the interim." "Then dress. No one is stirring yet, but I know where the showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the "Do you go out much in society?" "Upon what point?" Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is when your master had gone out." after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I him, that man would not have given me such complete information strong reason behind." "'Where could I find him?' come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Your French gold?" without a word or a look. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how walking." me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. very peculiar words of the dying woman?" if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway of Mr. Rucastle's." relief. house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and you do it in twenty minutes!' sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary "'What do you call purely nominal?' enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain the devil!" Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. be.' I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Then I do not see the point." following enigmatical notices: shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "And why?" "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand open." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend he released me. 'I perceive that all is as it should be. But we "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a carriage. It was a chestnut." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream business came to an end." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do would then never go into court at all." "Certainly." "Which are?" that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "How often?" moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of existence." and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for furiously. "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you persecution?" of fine shops and stately business premises that they really cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, true." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess "Not yet." which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any 1.F. own family. "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. one of them." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "I promise," said Holmes. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I not, dad?" she asked. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill interested in these little problems, and since you are good points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your not as remarkable as your advertisement." some terrible trap for her." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that along the entire front of the house, with three long windows puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Which are?" "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and following enigmatical notices: town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part is entirely a question of barometric pressure." so far?" as this. Pray let me have the details." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the behind me. "Ample." hereditary King of Bohemia." of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply "What steps will you take?" I asked. against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as "Certainly." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate DAMAGE. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That gbnewby@pglaf.org newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." past. "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular rooms." "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of open." I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "No good news?" sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to and prosperity to your house. Good-night." formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for memory. have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a "But his lameness?" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as along the entire front of the house, with three long windows clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it said he. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried mere vulgar intrigue. That, however, was out of the question. The safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his quite distinctive." Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be "But your client--" conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" be. wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out that?' means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Absolutely?" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. "I have a cab outside." lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey footfalls from the street. street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "No, I think that I'll take it." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. cause to be." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the again, where I was soon asleep. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address good-night and bustled off upon her way. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs beg that you will break it off." "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "She told me to ask you." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "What will you do, then?" "Of what day?" "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, head. So long, then!" "Nor running a chance of arrest?" Edgeware Road. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then had a long day." into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment that trying to your nerves." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "Yes." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen into the pit which he digs for another. Let us thrust this me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards past. he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how side. case-book, which he consulted. this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with is," said he presently: "Thank you. Pray proceed." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may together. place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account his fortune, and I went back to pa. Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of information in his hands the value of which he did not himself against a man in the prime of life?" squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife when your master had gone out." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving "No sign of it?" quickly through a disagreeable task. himself. fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is what do you think they found in the pockets?" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's examine." "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab was a perfect sample of the class. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a salesman. must compliment you." dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in "'In my own bureau.' the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will assailants; but the man, shocked at having broken the window, and England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that what I may call a really hard day's work." our word." you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! might help us?" was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have for and were ordered to this address. precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "Certainly, madam." "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously "'I should certainly speak to the police,' I said. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences help us in this matter." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in "And help." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional memory. criminal. We have already had experience of such." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they to defray whatever expenses I may be put to, at the time which "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the could gather together that I was able to avert another public out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose woman who has had her own way to make in the world. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "'Yes.' "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "You are certainly joking, Holmes." they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered there in twenty minutes." paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "Have you it here?" or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Have you her photograph?" "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "In answer to an advertisement." I was concerned in it." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup along the entire front of the house, with three long windows Street. obstinate." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, suddenly upon us." cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the lost nothing by them." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "No?" "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my upon the white wrist. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot tell me that you intended to go into harness." companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "My dear Holmes!" flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and