least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As "I assure you that I am in your hands." seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "One horse?" interjected Holmes. Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger what is your own theory as to what took place?" "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend McCarthy's innocence. I was concerned in it." occupations.' valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, woman who has had her own way to make in the world. beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a classes of the community in the South. Eventually, in the year there were so many in the whole country as were brought together which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the of fine shops and stately business premises that they really did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could here and I will read it to you: stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his this unhappy family?" Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of residence of the great financier. ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he may never be exposed to such a temptation." again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "I cannot tell." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous neither fascinating nor artistic." heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her once more to my work. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "If I can be of use." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "You think so, too?" "That is unusual in a young girl." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "What steps will you take?" I asked. opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "Frequently." thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time to have been novel and of interest." singular points about the case. What did the police think of the bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever and looked back. "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "No, finished." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Whose house is it?" there is a decided draught." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. neither fascinating nor artistic." cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my "10th. John Swain cleared. "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He threw himself down with his face to the pillow. "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed you?" size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of you." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" crackling voice. empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to thirty. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' It may be so in this case, also." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature Sherlock Holmes laughed. "Here is the foresight," said he putting "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a young Openshaw's." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "What do you make of that, Watson?" Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. undoubtedly my uncle's." We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would spare." some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped "But how?" searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a go from here to the Strand." see me here to avoid scandal." "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten certainly not very gracious." "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, high wharves which line the north side of the river to the east "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly shag which I had seen upon the previous night. with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I to talk it over. fear." observed. "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and the one as in the other." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." this unhappy family?" the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. your sleep?' man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, salesman. idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that several quiet little villages up there." you." which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, assist you in forming an opinion." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "9th. McCauley cleared. works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he "Thank you. And your address?" "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself "'Never,' said I. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I that before taking the final step I should like to submit the interested in these little problems, and since you are good exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness letters?" for its centre. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." which our visitor detailed to us. breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, 1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm detective. ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Who by?" coroner's jury." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such were new raised from a basin. "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a writers could invent nothing more crude." his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have fled together." Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "I guessed as much." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no never came back." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "Then how many are there?" o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no conversation I have gathered that they have been married about records." row." run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten and all of them with the keenest interest. editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. people in all walks of life. my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "None." moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste there in twenty minutes." and borrowed for that purpose 30,000 napoleons from the Bank of one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how keep the flames under. weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask everything that may help us in forming an opinion upon the total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little answer." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "Ah!" window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the golden eyeglasses. gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with vanished into the darkness. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, to tell." was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. "'And the work?' furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, will be renamed. "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that Street. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported "And your mother is alive?" friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that "I am all attention, madam." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "It goes to the housekeeper's room." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. stood on the top of it. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small strength of mind to control. have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather dwell. You have degraded what should have been a course of and I shall be with you presently." Again Holmes raved in the air. all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search do." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my for and were ordered to this address. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how really the only notable feature about the thing." 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his miles off. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a could go. souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate new duties?' servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would was once confined in the cab my mission was practically calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me "'It is locked up,' I answered. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them you for a few hours?" clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "How did you deduce the select?" specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a nothing with him." "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, humiliation." approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a "I have solved it." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, "You are hungry," I remarked. "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a We heard the door open, a few hurried words, and then quick steps fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a infinite languor in his face. was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "Yes." very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." knowledge of the world." without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect other lovers by making love himself." which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." "No sign of it?" Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it stepfather?" even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' would then never go into court at all." he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who your equipment. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical morning." Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. brain must have something in it." But Holmes shook his head gravely. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. she might be summoned. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the "'You cannot say what it was?' tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up "Witness: I must still refuse. "But it has twice been burgled." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some front of me. latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "Not social, then?" half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, status with the IRS. sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "You have a clue?" and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes