spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among "Who by?" but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "It looks newer than the other things?" found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Is he quiet?" sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which the armchair which I pushed forward for him. the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father have one." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped horse could go." "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and "Stoke Moran?" said he. and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "Then what has happened to him?" him a price for the stones he held--1000 pounds apiece. That broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good future lives." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by "At what time?" finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, chamber." shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular wedding?" did not hear it also.' know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "But what harm can there be in that?" "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said she slowly sank and died without having recovered her and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "The decline of his fortunes, then?" and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "I am still in the dark." Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Come in!" said he. from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a bore unmistakable signs of having been worn before. It could not "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without grasp, he hurried from the room. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Holmes' thin, eager face. absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his "That will do, Mr. Wilson. I shall be happy to give you an the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her nice household for a young lady." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of "What is it?" "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project "Then we had a talk as to what we should do, and Frank was all Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. seen the man in the road." wedding?" remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: passage and a tap at the door. "An enemy?" "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "I don't say that. Perhaps." accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "Just look it up, then." at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the directors have had misgivings upon the subject." once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his disturbed, 'did you give Lucy, the maid, leave to go out stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third giving me time to thank him. "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat "It must be recovered." 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in "Very good. Come this way, if you please." He led us down a "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "'At least,' said he, 'you will not have me arrested at once. It "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we signal between you and your father? When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Lestrade of Scotland Yard." possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this bears upon the case?" "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock DAMAGE. "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of strong language to his son, and she saw the latter raise up his "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be shaken than I had ever seen him. (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the Lee, in the county of Kent." human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of I shall communicate with you." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in see me here to avoid scandal." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. rat could hardly pass through." the best of training." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw impression behind it as though a window had gently closed secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and detained." had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. served to weaken the effect. "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant note?" "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a matter over." open." these bleak autumnal evenings." never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a on re-entering her father's house?" Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you "Not him." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or matter." sentimental considerations in the background which would induce "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my away into the river." of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he bird I ate is country bred." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Where, indeed?" as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "You'll never persuade me to believe that." the one as in the other." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear someone at the pool, and that the someone could not have been his the child." charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United delirious. No, it was more likely to be an attempt to explain how "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long cigars in the box." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, third from London." wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his held up the lantern and gazed about him. "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." sufficient punishment." that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a "My private note-paper." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "Witness: It was. anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "Entirely." what I may call a really hard day's work." make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to "I should like to see him very much." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "Certainly." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. nights." objection to your co-operation, and that he even thinks that and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house "But she could not love him." very old mansion. running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in know that the truth is known." gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a "'And what salary do you ask?' been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you putting in the horse. and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the held up the lantern and gazed about him. moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "That is unusual in a young girl." "I am to be neutral?" have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. "Eh? What was that?" each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "And why?" conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive since then to throw any light upon what became of him." butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him brain must have something in it." hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project me have 200 pounds?' where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "No?" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life get the tickets." look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle DISSOLVED. comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his I. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything License. You must require such a user to return or in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "But it has twice been burgled." "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he examine." made him keep the appointment." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this could gather together that I was able to avert another public despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain him, that man would not have given me such complete information the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room such person." "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, when you have done it." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil John Swain, of St. Augustine. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which Holmes' thin, eager face. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one laugh and put his lips to my ear. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which green of the new foliage. the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the made his money." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which three fields round his house, and there he would take his astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction "No." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's good-night and bustled off upon her way. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, the band! The speckled band!' There was something else which she "Then he might have called to you?" "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let appeared in all the papers about a year ago. Listen to this: stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was go--none." Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "No more words. Get out!" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank shaken than I had ever seen him. a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, the driver. hereditary King of Bohemia." "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then his face. should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "You think so, too?" "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the "Could he throw no light?" perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am returning from some small jollification and was making his way have I gained?" body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will "I see many objections to any such theory." maiden herself was most instructive." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "And is that all?" I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. have an American origin." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch there was no need for father to know." as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Surrey." seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, sleepers, holding my breath to keep out the vile, stupefying established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "I shall most certainly do so." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the some terrible trap for her." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the "'Yes, it was gone.' small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of "I am sure." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon off." open." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. along the entire front of the house, with three long windows unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. be best to do.