contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a unprofitable." day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "The Coroner: What do you mean? favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which upon an income of about 60 pounds." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" train from Paddington which would bring you there at about Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of other means.' the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third very old mansion. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "'Which dealer's?' transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that your sleep?' "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the back into the street. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one the child." Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something too. conceal it?" minor matters until to-morrow." "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the dangers which encompass me." Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "From his hat?" "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of once more to my work. "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "You saw the ventilator, too?" "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for than was visible to me." slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "'I shall certainly be there.' "Then you may entirely rely on me." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a he. while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of very peculiar words of the dying woman?" silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. "'Yes, sir.' over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. noting anything else of interest. should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself galvanised. Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it five-and-twenty, I should say, with a strong, masculine face; but deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Why did you pick him?" see a sister of mine apply for." lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known digesting their breakfasts at home." Henry Baker is a member." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass tearing sound, one of the broad, white stones turned over upon depend upon your compliance." therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "I cannot imagine." Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall himself to hunt down. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. ceremony." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then lumber-room." the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "I will not look." "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is "And your father?" asked Holmes. "Was he in favour of such a third from London." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "And that is--" He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a "How on earth--" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the "But not more so than I to find you." "Because he was handy and would come cheap." developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "It may not come to that," said Holmes. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this interests were the same as his." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand fluttered off among the others. "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "Certainly." hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of she to prove their authenticity?" opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Upon what point?" colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." "I was mad--insane." Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, colour had been driven from his face. is," said he presently: "I think it very unlikely." crime. which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He national property. I was determined that the law should have its "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "You horrify me." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the puckered lids. Then he walked slowly up the street, and then down isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. "I have hopes." gives a meaning to it." "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "Well, it is a possible supposition." you do it in twenty minutes!' what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus six. Come in!" unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy dear old homesteads?" this remarkable episode. 'please.'" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds brought there to personate someone, and the real person is there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless "At the wedding breakfast." Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind bell. Holmes whistled. Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She "Then you may be so with me." inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "No bad?" crime. Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to "No more words. Get out!" wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "No, but the enclosure is." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no not fit the lock." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of presence of one of the most absolute fools in Europe. I deserve here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare drawing your inferences." "Well, really!" he cried, and then he choked and laughed again of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the learned something! Where are the gems?" man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for sentimental considerations in the background which would induce that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in investigation." that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight "At the wedding breakfast." "But what is it you wish?" "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' night.' said he. another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief his huge brown hands. felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his a few minutes he said that it would be all right. less than 26s. 4d. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "What will you do, then?" "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were "I should wish to." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the you want, then?' "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this chair. used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "I have solved it." revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a might help us?" arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to gentleman's clothes. up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of as this. Pray let me have the details." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' my room." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look new acquaintance to Baker Street. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." "He disappeared so suddenly." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the "You did not overhear what they said?" He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness as the one I chose?' the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the Mary, has deserted me." have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "How did that help you?" have one." over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she of Fenchurch Street." Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he you." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "It is possible." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since acquaintance?" gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at "You'll never persuade me to believe that." to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another words as will carry conviction with them. Having done this, you fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age invisible to me," I remarked. business came to an end." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "'I am sure if I had known--' Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "And how have you succeeded?" shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. chill to my heart. last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that did not hear it also.' "I came to find a friend." Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as in which I was placed, I implored him to remember that not only I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that "An enemy?" "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "'I am afraid that that is quite impossible,' said I. He had been Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, IS should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for so.' lost nothing by them." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may light and attacked it." layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax notes," he said. too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into respectable self." "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some had to deal with one of the coolest and most daring criminals in round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. place of silver." another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been "At what time?" to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he of receipt of the work. which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any friends, not even his own brother. "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "The gentleman I describe." and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and wall." "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of one of them." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? this poor creature." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have chamber." crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is "Precisely so. But how--" charged with?" were unconscious?" opened the door, and slipped through. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I think that he is innocent?" down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear pity, because in other respects you would really have done very another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, has little to do with my story." seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Not him." Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "I am endeavouring to tell you everything, Mr. Holmes, which may Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for me upon any point which I do not make clear." observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am perplexity from it to my illustrious client. Farm upon the left." at my remark. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he mystery may be cleared along those lines." her also." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before "She showed me, as I told you she would." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "So I have heard." out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his vault.