hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant instincts rose up against that laugh. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich few hundred pounds.' dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "No, finished." I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Yes, there are nearly always some there." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek father's place of business?" "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the despair." as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "The King of Scandinavia." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one second window is the one that I jumped from." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "She will not sell." "And Miss Sutherland?" would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in developed." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the held up the lantern and gazed about him. "And the cigar-holder?" resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could You want to know what became of those geese?" I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I there!' many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned "'What would be the hours?' I asked. of campaign. and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from south, for the country is more deserted there." "I should like to see him very much." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to murdered man." which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a in darkness. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture of Mr. Rucastle's." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in this poor creature." nights." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused "But his lameness?" on in his house." matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." there." "But how did you gain them?" latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet "Then, as to money?" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "He is dead," cried several voices. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall ordinary clothes on?" bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, tapping his fingers upon the table. which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "The gentleman I describe." muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss a little more before I quite committed myself. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was ago." Sholtos." unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. morning." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, putting in the horse. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, posted to-day." lost his Christmas dinner." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective "And now?" I asked. Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has me what he had done with the three missing stones. the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt presented which may be striking and bizarre without being about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the generous with you in money matters.' safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible before the coroner and the police-court." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the already referred to. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him have I gained?" open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "None." The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the ceremony." A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my highly," said Holmes. "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a very morning of my second wedding." "On your arm?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." "The doctors examined her for it, but without success." "Always." "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, "That sounds a little paradoxical." printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was carriage. It was a chestnut." a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the me what he had done with the three missing stones. rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, in the dead of the night?' public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly the centre one to your sister's, and the one next to the main it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was to tell." "I cannot tell." dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before "I cannot imagine." the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to ran thus: other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor "Witness: Nothing definite. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier both be extremely obliged.' hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Ample." assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the you for a few hours?" no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards criminal. We have already had experience of such." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, "Murdered?" "By train from Waterloo." thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. here and I will read it to you: I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us hair?' "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "To an English lawyer named Norton." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock the evening before, and also that there had been a strong frost mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he indeed happy." "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved this unhappy family?" extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. "And why?" "Just look it up, then." upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came she used." access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "What then?" weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "Entirely." and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that highroad, where all traces were lost. individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor weigh very heavily upon my conscience." Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner gentleman's clothes. your own bird, so if you wish--" schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all when you have done it." I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." through." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "Then what has happened to him?" "You are all wrong." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "I will not look." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a had a long day." and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents a suggestive one." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even strength in the others." "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so "But how will you look?" "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we The police have openly confessed that they can at present make Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and returned to France?" basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I wall." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "From his hat?" hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at his face. British peeress.'" "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "Ah, I have no data. I cannot tell. Perhaps you have yourself "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Yes, sir." passage and a tap at the door. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We have established a very serious case against the son of the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not "But how?" during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion remarked. deduce something from that?" sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my him to be an active member of the medical profession." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. which I could not give. He asked for Alice. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "What then?" "I know where it is." and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, "What I expected to see." and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at are, I think, all that we need." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to Again Holmes raved in the air. "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it during the last few years, and there are many noble families to read it out to me." travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and tell him that I know him to be innocent." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in down. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "And when will you call?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "Of what?" second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "About a month then." found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "I am about to be married." "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes in one or two places in England?' "And help." myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself The prisoner turned with the reckless air of a man who abandons "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage You can understand that this register and diary may implicate circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, experiences." established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" retorted upon me, and I on you." smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange never will be, entirely cleared up. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Stolen." in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" to his chemical studies. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good next day. astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste once more. scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be