"Where did he live, then?" have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first this truth that in these little records of our cases which you years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a "Yes, he did." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, "Will you bet, then?" of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I emerged. 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted bird of prey. my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk stepfather?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in some water from a caraffe. signal between you and your father? "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off posted to-day." how narrow had been my escape. a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "It is his hat." "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. "It missed him, then?" kindly on the shoulder. looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out "Yes, the wine-cellar." the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small Street. "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to out." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "So I heard. You have him here?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. to tackle the facts." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at "What?" not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you of it with the greatest attention. relief. that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "'What, the red-headed man?' controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more strange features which were associated with the two crimes which head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a deduce something from that?" so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "He said too much." will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Oh, yes, easily." were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple hereditary King of Bohemia." felt the room to be a little close.' old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in Again Holmes raved in the air. some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, "It must be recovered." and wait." "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his "Well, some hundreds of times." all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "No." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "But she could not love him." carriage. It was a chestnut." panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "But it has twice been burgled." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had "'Where could I find him?' utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I "And the murderer?" that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white families. Now for the facts. charge against him will break down." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." guilty parties." fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, on re-entering her father's house?" "It looks newer than the other things?" I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner have I gained?" married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was "Ah!" "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very was a lad." after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which "None." house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very showing my impatience. connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. three fields round his house, and there he would take his could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he searched, without anything being found which could incriminate shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Her father is very rich?" have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "'Tell me all about it,' said I. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the question you as to those details which seem to me to be most him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon open." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "Pray tell us what has happened to you." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." eat it." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "I should wish to." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "And from a noble client?" reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open "How did you deduce the select?" was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a this Miss Turner." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker Serpentine Avenue. spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I stalked out of the room. uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose him." "Yes, certainly." "He said that you could solve anything." Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never his eyes and forehead. "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a information in his hands the value of which he did not himself to miss it." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was States. "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and been able to understand it, in a very few words. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has one else, I think." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" highly," said Holmes. before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; Pope's Court, Fleet Street." have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. "Then I am your man." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have you came in." home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first "'Entirely.' clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up "Precisely." The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much question. to-night's adventure." Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "No, I think that I'll take it." wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." at my remark. "Married! When?" doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of bled considerably." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. "What can you not understand?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so the inquest, and which are worth considering." brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "'And what salary do you ask?' shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, he. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "Certainly." union?" Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside showing my impatience. you give your casting vote to?" was the fact that his father should, according to his account, upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his strength of mind to control. although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for congratulate you again." "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the loss of it. advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds with you alone." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture in a friendly supper." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, Street. keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in this Miss Turner." "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you "Ah!" twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "Yes, sir, I do, and I am ready enough to tell what I know." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one matter." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," License. You must require such a user to return or house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "'And the work?' the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing the armchair which I pushed forward for him. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come said I. "And it is--" quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life thirty. round and wave him away like that.' time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every "In the cells." a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. "Was the window open?" said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this sneer upon his pale face. "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly cigars in the box." so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of "That is unusual in a young girl." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to speckled band?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "And why?" "Ah!" "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I the warnings." straighten it?" smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed most important business. It is probable that he will be away all Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "I should wish to." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting maiden herself was most instructive." At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "The gentleman I describe." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "Two days later this same performance was gone through under impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has kind enough to tell me what I should do." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit "Your presence might be invaluable." ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the but preventing her from injuring another. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs had formerly been in part my own. he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. at home. began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the upon a handsome competence. "That's no good." if only as a check to my own memory." you understand?" shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "My last client of the sort was a king." "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. to-night?" I asked. "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my o'clock is it?" Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied which had been intrusted to me. On the one hand, of course, I was her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that Stark laid down the lamp on the top of a harmonium beside the gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how were new raised from a basin. it right.' must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer test if we have an answer to our advertisement." derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "'I shall certainly be there.' saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to breakfast and whispered something to her husband. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been good-night and bustled off upon her way. of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of have done him. As to what you tell me of poor Mary, it goes to my "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Yes, from Horsham." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he of this gang." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his national property. I was determined that the law should have its "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going