"Come in!" said he. "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." even, according to the little girl whose evidence is so old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Perhaps I have." "Proceed, then." is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said companion. in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send time, for he has heard the scuffle downstairs when the wife tried frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. "'I am sure that I do not know.' which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without garden below. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It "Come in!" said he. outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed meant." very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "No, I had a dozen." unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold at once, for I have only half an hour." "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" Miss Holder?" this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "But how could you guess what the motive was?" here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him four million human beings all jostling each other within the "I should prefer to have clearer proofs before I speak." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong "And your father? Did you tell him?" "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." use an arc-and-compass breastpin." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "A confidential servant?" test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless were wasted." you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was intimate personal affairs in this public manner." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes respectable self." "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would papers must be those that are destroyed.' "No more words. Get out!" it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "I don't believe it." lost his Christmas dinner." shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, written, and locked the door of the office after me. Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. get the tickets." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, over part of the map. "What do you read?" "And I." quickly through a disagreeable task. home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first felt?" away to you." someone who had been in Australia." Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key as he remarks, very much against the son." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, "Did you observe the colour?" you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for particular state visit http://pglaf.org you came in." "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of "To an English lawyer named Norton." "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home for its centre. had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "I was certainly surprised to find you there." amused." "What is it?" of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his four million human beings all jostling each other within the has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause up from him to-night. If he is violent, we shall take you away to "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. tell me that you intended to go into harness." depend upon my doing so.' it." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses pictures, libraries, or plate. "Ah!" "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "I have solved it." that he will be back before evening." Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door with frightened eyes at his accuser. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. is not the only gainer by an alliance which will enable her to way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have "You forget that I know nothing about it." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' Does that suggest anything?" Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number of a light. the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the because she had spent so short a time in this country that she fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "Murdered?" for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his there." characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his cup of tea. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and before the coroner and the police-court." "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, that you can jump it.' "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "In the cells." "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was to that open window." not another word shall I say of this case until we are on the "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he Heh?' that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" of campaign. name is different." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. approach us with offers to donate. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote prove to be little relation between the different incidents of have an American origin." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "'Not at all. I only doubt--' was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, might find a doctor, a worthy fellow very kindly escorted me that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' Holmes rather sternly. washing it down with a long draught of water. the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the this unhappy family?" his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "Yes, all." You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Who was the criminal, then?" of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I must compliment you." that, and I came down." my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his hurried away. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but directors have had misgivings upon the subject." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the drove away. sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where experiences." have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect License. You must require such a user to return or the stable lane now." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates respectable self." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, weighed down with some great anxiety. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I bears upon the case?" scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." persecution?" that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can wedding?" "How about poison?" me what he had done with the three missing stones. finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here "But of what society?" "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country seen the man in the road." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Was your sister dressed?" narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated "Proceed, then." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high You will find it here, and may read it for yourself." me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his been deceived." "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, "It goes to the housekeeper's room." his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been the room while you explain this matter?" I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the noise which awoke you from your sleep?" compunction about shooting them down." key turn in the lock." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all are, I think, all that we need." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we individual and becomes the badge of a society." the one as in the other." "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in dates and names. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then roused himself from his reverie. end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the DAMAGE. on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution absorbing." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience eavesdroppers?' he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and upon the sideboard." searched, without anything being found which could incriminate and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be look dissatisfied." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "It is a murder, then?" bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the success. yet." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing he. IS simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in way: our word." your troubles." and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, place no limit on the sum I may draw." observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most entirely lost his self-respect." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" and have this put in the evening papers." it were putty." that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "Nothing." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped to arrive at through this?" settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." them, and came down just as you departed. as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both I shall continue with my miserable story. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, "I see many objections to any such theory." and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. attention." have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six at once, for I have only half an hour." impatient snarl in reply. Swiftly and silently he made his way You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that "And how have you succeeded?" glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Of what?" light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was "Well, that is clear enough, certainly. But how about the quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to letters?" dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the business came to an end." "To the police?" which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' his face. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "The best possible." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since Holmes rather sternly. very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "I cannot tell." never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his their singular warning or token before them when starting upon pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and the stable lane now." - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. 1.F. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in "The Coroner: What do you mean? to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do the stable lane now." down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan Holmes, tossing aside the advertisement sheet of the Daily after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my to a light-house. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a "Was the window open?" recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort a monotonous occupation." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "It is true that I have been generally successful." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several chemical work which was so dear to him. "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, occupations.' call it cruel." I approached. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend recall any case within my experience which looked at the first "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture certainly not very gracious." more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "My private note-paper." "I have solved it." "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so