think that any burglar could have done. directors, with the result that you have seen." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." a very grave face. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and his forehead." feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "Nothing." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" 'American Encyclopaedia' which stands upon the shelf beside you. planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "None." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "None." without a word or a look. arrested. You then--" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands John Swain, of St. Augustine. 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "No." of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so examination of the premises, but without finding anything which me what he had done with the three missing stones. Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. "'What then?' I asked. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as His smile broadened. back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her of them has the shutters up.' companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Where, indeed?" "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the read it out to me." robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Quite so. She has her freedom." believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, likely to be some crony of the landlady's." "Your French gold?" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the ventilator." than was visible to me." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course tell them apart.' months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New searched, without anything being found which could incriminate Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper showed, made the inspector realise that the matter was serious. And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. shoulder; "he's all right." tapping his fingers upon the table. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your of them has the shutters up.' over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed bedroom door." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't had picked up in the wood. point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. hopeless attempt at recovering them." "The murder was done with it." "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "Stolen, then." "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. colonel looking down at me. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Certainly." red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." astonishment. is now desirous of getting those letters back." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "No, finished." reason alone can attain to. Problems may be solved in the study values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be forecastle of an emigrant ship. accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can several quiet little villages up there." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation absorbing." would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive question," said Holmes, smiling. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman so.' Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "Certainly." bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "Do you know him?" "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits spark where all is dark to me." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I your troubles." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Nearly eleven." imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' at my own good fortune. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "How did you trace it, then?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! exactly what you advise." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which that up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black occupations.' expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every "Will you go?" "Quite so." vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg during the last few years, and there are many noble families to "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my dear old homesteads?" "But I am all in the dark." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better "Do you go out much in society?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "But he might be a bachelor." "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Look there!" said he. not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, interest. They are important, you understand, without being a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My cost them two and thirty pounds." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was more solid." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a whereabouts. my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "Yes." arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy as the one I chose?' have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but troubles have been weighing upon his mind. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing "And you can do nothing until then?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "You have it, sir, just as it happened." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a a room. he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at and looked back. call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" one's self under obligations.' of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while States. crackling voice. ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My not as remarkable as your advertisement." Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but you came in." slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' thought that she would have been so carried away." once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and have got?" occupations.' thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds was it brought him the coronet? salesman. he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the "That is possible." floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and furiously. wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in article?" it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "If I can be of use." reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "No more words. Get out!" me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "I cannot imagine." habit of advancing money.' making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his drawing your inferences." "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," signal between you and your father? appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him exactly what you advise." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." "And I to find an enemy." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, the inner apartment." was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. comes from the middle window." "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. me, and I could not think that his explanation of the wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and Edgeware Road. myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what have established a very serious case against the son of the Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips way in everything. sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious the bed, and you in that chair." springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "I know where it is." peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I lectures into a series of tales." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when this as likely?" her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand best detective that ever lived. unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of shoulder. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the became a certainty. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No "I am sure." this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the "'What do you call purely nominal?' and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "Pray continue your narrative." "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is instincts rose up against that laugh. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner together. robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "It missed him, then?" himself in a perplexing position. "What do you mean?" giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Ten will be early enough." far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it locked." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the my former friend and companion. "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO child?' down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to "Certainly." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a "But she could not love him." "The knees of his trousers." The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may way in everything. your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the character. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, was feeling which was the fattest.' the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the which should have the effect of calling the attention of the harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. during which he might have communicated with his friend the frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, frequent the Alpha Inn, near the Museum--we are to be found in which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each least a most suspicious remark." the matter?" nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the in the hope of finding them." For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are remarked. south, for the country is more deserted there." union?" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the a matter of business and to carry out that business myself. In my arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a extreme limits of his reason. Then, suddenly springing to his "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. to tackle the facts." indeed which he could not unravel. conceal it?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones all that?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of vanished; "I will tell you the true solution of the matter. Lady "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: fattened it expressly for you.' In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I served to weaken the effect. "It may not come to that," said Holmes. they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "What do you mean?" details should find their way into the papers. Inspector contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter "What do you make of that, Watson?" streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. light as to the tendencies of a child by the study of the was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which own family.