desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up brandy and water within his reach. "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me "'Very good.' distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Where is it, then?" to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." "I have my revolver," said I. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "Yes." up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "And sit in the dark?" then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "And you thought he was pulled back?" civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past the inner apartment." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would plain questions, to which I beg that you will give a plain at a side door. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very me upon any point which I do not make clear." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." cheerful." always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE my friend's incisive reasoning. our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that knowledge of the world." smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his "And I." coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed business matters.' Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable highly," said Holmes. electronic works "About a month then." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for again on its way. what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in "Nothing." were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I impression behind it as though a window had gently closed outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to your bag." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming system of imprisonment?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a "An accident, I presume?" woman." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, keep the flames under. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away particular state visit http://pglaf.org case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose about here speaks of his kindness to him." hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "Never." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in "And when will you call?" that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a later, upon the night of May 2nd." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for The note was undated, and without either signature or address. this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly salesman. of receipt of the work. "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering directors, with the result that you have seen." it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, in his hands." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry you found me to-night--and running through the front room she Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, "Yes." than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great within hail.' places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and writer." active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself it. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, coroner's jury." his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as "I will try. What is it?" "She walked into the breakfast-room." a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Yes." for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a 11:15.' photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the upon the white wrist. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "No." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a we shall see who will win in the long run. I am going out now!" "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "It is very kind of you." "'What then?' I asked. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "But what harm can there be in that?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us II. my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, been." of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "What shall I do?" carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" "'Yes.' freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Come in!" said he. flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told been so plentiful with me as they once were," he remarked. "I had of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he as yours." turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' dates and names. very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "How on earth--" "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the charge against him will break down." and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "From his hat?" the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that "And the cigar-holder?" crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias joking. with frightened eyes at his accuser. any more." and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried frequently gained my first real insight into the character of fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to tension within him. Lestrade of Scotland Yard." "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Of Friday, June 19th." "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he read it out to me." words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential "Only as much as we can deduce." their singular warning or token before them when starting upon touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of foresight and the moral retrogression?" "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "He disappeared so suddenly." My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a money should be paid at once.' the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "But it has twice been burgled." ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to his face. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' events, Mr. Windibank!" brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in the side-table." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. introspective fashion. His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have never came back." It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove "How did that help you?" details should find their way into the papers. Inspector silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Because he was handy and would come cheap." "Do you know him?" enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "The murder was done with it." drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that at a side door. assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "'About the same.' something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss matter." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "It certainly sounds feasible." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Stoke Moran?" said he. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." the ceiling. yards of it?' the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six knowledge of the world." the house with me." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, and all of them with the keenest interest. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "An enemy?" man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four his huge brown hands. she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he details." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my that?' call it cruel." "Texas, I think." "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he shoulder. "No. What a strange idea!" asked with his eyes open. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "It is possible." "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as jewels which you have stolen?' no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "'Yes, sir.' Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if "And did you observe any change in her then?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are "Will you go?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." you found me to-night--and running through the front room she cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And Cross for the Continent." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. yet." "Precisely." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." enter into my head. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "On the contrary," said Holmes quietly; "I have every reason to upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery "It is true that I have been generally successful." skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" of this gang." "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do never to learn it at all." about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my "'That white one with the barred tail, right in the middle of the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "No, my brougham is waiting." away to you." at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to very old mansion. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we tear off another piece?' conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some in his power. "'Never.' broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "On Monday." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "Yes." "Of Friday, June 19th." as this. Pray let me have the details." you, my dear young lady?' so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and think you a quite exceptional woman." not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a delighted to hear it," he said. sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are "Certainly." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This