him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at it with his own hands." tightly behind him. "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say soul! here is her carriage at the door." settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." the south-west, I see." floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "I have seen the police." continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "Then I am your man." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a an introduction to him?" "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' such attractions and accomplishments?' what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." "A confidential servant?" "Not I." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian "Ah!" gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her most interesting one." scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have fled together." "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. and your relations to her." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "So I have heard." as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be Serpentine Avenue. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were less than 26s. 4d. "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "It is a murder, then?" had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, "My last client of the sort was a king." girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the furiously. "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time stepfather?" which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." that I could plainly see the traces which had been left by the "How on earth--" TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, "And the cigar-holder?" shag which I had seen upon the previous night. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his kind enough to tell me what I should do." chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking forbidden door. any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My "And Irene Adler?" "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "To an end?" would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "'Very good.' it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of village inn over there?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not them?" excitement. "You forget that I know nothing about it." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "I was afraid that you were engaged." "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the seen the man in the road." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could row." "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his weighed down with some great anxiety. "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." were a slut from off the streets. It drove me mad to think that I I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the "And that is--" There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Where did you address your letters, then?" approach us with offers to donate. I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I "'In my own bureau.' by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He gbnewby@pglaf.org and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to doing for some time, and in order to help us in our operations we All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" "Not in a good cause." from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." salesman. "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the business?" Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. the very morning of the wedding." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, where we are going." "You have compromised yourself seriously." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, I am not easy in my mind about them." "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not fire. You quite follow me?" double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do "'You understand, Mr. Holder, that I am giving you a strong proof and your relations to her." "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "No, no, nothing of the kind. It is perhaps the best possible "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, any." questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "I have solved it." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from outside. "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then "And who is her maid?" broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper not take it amiss if your visitor wear a mask." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again touch that coronet?' the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you get her out of the way." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as too. down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but having apparently given up his search, he had emerged in no very threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Then I am your man." his face which made him a very different person to the round, the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man on in his house." thin, with a long, sharp nose?" nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the is now desirous of getting those letters back." my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which McCarthy's innocence. horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An only touch the interest." a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been cigars in their mouths. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough your only hope of safety." secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two enter Dr. Roylott's room." friends, not even his own brother. but preventing her from injuring another. "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." about here speaks of his kindness to him." "'Yes, we could easily give you a shake-down.' to you." for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the conclusions. "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? and discoloured that it may have dated from the original building figure." "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in behind me. had died away into the silence from which it rose. the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It gives a meaning to it." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to there were so many in the whole country as were brought together We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon forecastle of an emigrant ship. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. Holmes. singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing "And did you observe any change in her then?" bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think purpose of examination. "What have you to say now?" could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate would not have talked so. And then I think that what he foresaw you do it in twenty minutes!' fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. about. "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. and I shall be with you presently." "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the asked. sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or strength of mind to control. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive that afternoon so enwrapped in the music at St. James's Hall I unprecedented a position." along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." dates and names. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. "I do." past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed instant." I rushed upstairs, explained the matter shortly to my "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for infinite languor in his face. "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to could not account in any way for the presence of the missing about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how walking." "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, wedding?" gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches feature." brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. constraint." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. fasten all the windows?" sound at heart." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Won't it ring?" beyond words. "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "No." surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to weary and pale-looking. "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and me." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. him nearly every evening." searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest that he thought of nothing but flight, but since then he must now. It seems that there had been some informality about their one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put confidant, the Lascar, entreated him to prevent anyone from "What of the rat, then?" have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal disguises, I had to look three times before I was certain that it I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. answer." window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, "Always." guilty one." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I "Look there!" said he. door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can that he will be back before evening." "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears I have it here in my museum." during which he might have communicated with his friend the "Holmes, the busybody!" well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." was already answered. protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to key of the affair now." end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the dear old homesteads?" The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "How did you trace it, then?" "How about poison?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter comes from the middle window." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. God! What an exposure! What can I do?" dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "Certainly." black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "But you were on a friendly footing?" his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the floor. the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, "Game for a morning drive?" most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, point in the dark hollow of his hand. "I will not look." license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, fatally injured? was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your paper in the air. danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the date of his supposed suicide." Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The better in every way that they should make their position a little "What?" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become strong reason behind." minor matters until to-morrow." if I call to-morrow?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." careless servant girl?" Lee, in the county of Kent." of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open recover the gem." For answer Holmes clapped the hat upon his head. It came right aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. you in your example." clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "Do you receive much company?" he asked. could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. some terrible trap for her." when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler "'Yes.' A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew "No, distinctly professional." the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its "About a month then." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a likely to be some crony of the landlady's." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would indiscretion." the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my Chief Executive and Director which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up