remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but in darkness. hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one strength." "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as brought there to personate someone, and the real person is soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and at a side door. his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for a few minutes with his fingertips client, rising. "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy me have 200 pounds?' foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Married! When?" English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle chosen, inspiring pity by my ghastly face and filling my pockets had formerly been in part my own. his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, to that open window." some water from a caraffe. occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to digesting their breakfasts at home." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, right! Sit down and let us talk it over." thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders recover the gem." he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I hurried away. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being distance from the station, and there we found the young lady "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, "No." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" passage and a tap at the door. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not ceremony." one which it was hard to resist. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal the coronet in his hand?" heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." down. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of business came to an end." nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "It certainly sounds feasible." his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, house for five minutes.' spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "The Cedars?" The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a six. Come in!" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' to go into your room and bar your shutters?" four million human beings all jostling each other within the sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my digesting their breakfasts at home." home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. drives out at five every day, and returns at seven sharp for man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the plantation.' "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "What office?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on in this note: last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, the matter." "You did not overhear what they said?" was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our both be extremely obliged.' that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid Eyford at 11:15.' "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. and I shall be with you presently." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope are, and they are waiting for us." "My dear Holmes!" c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham rose-bushes. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a to talk it over. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, or in danger--" Chief Executive and Director on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while nothing with him." points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a shoulder. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "It is no ordinary one." down. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He "'Very good.' and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not served to weaken the effect. putting in the horse. he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not legal crime." to Leatherhead. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "That also I could fathom." is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the fluttered off among the others. "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Very. But will he see it?" "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been conduct the inquiry." his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of could go. that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "A client, then?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "Not particularly." enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with "It is a murder, then?" "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and that before taking the final step I should like to submit the Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for said I. to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small details should find their way into the papers. Inspector Have you good authority for what you say?" is entirely a question of barometric pressure." have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. as far as I can understand, little to do with this awful "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a DISSOLVED. a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless events than those which have happened in my own family." for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace which you were interested--white, with a black bar across the "Game for a morning drive?" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If have one." "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they was a loud and authoritative tap. as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still tell me that you intended to go into harness." matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "What is it?" shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical "Oh, the cause is excellent!" mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. mystery may be cleared along those lines." Leadenhall Street--and--" lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "But I am all in the dark." disturbance in my wife." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, "Yes." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is instituted." little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting room had already been engaged for us. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that "I beg pardon." instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" "Deserted you?" retorted upon me, and I on you." "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, who was a member of your goose club." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There crowd. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I the nursery. coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young test if we have an answer to our advertisement." several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with "Yes, the wine-cellar." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as train from Paddington which would bring you there at about shoulder; "he's all right." trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton "Will you go?" fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that he bowed and left the room without another word. "And now?" I asked. settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his look upon these things in a different way." "Has he come with you to-night?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see *** START: FULL LICENSE *** think that any burglar could have done. but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy in the hope of finding them." late." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no "Unless this is a clever forgery to put us on the wrong scent. of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I fatally injured? Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might him to be an active member of the medical profession." the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his 'please.'" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained lips." however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the overpowering excitement and concern. which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety awkward doing business with an alias." should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, "She will not sell." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired indeed which he could not unravel. a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We "The Cedars?" nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have future lives." contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. your bag." quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them own family. "But your client--" rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set against a man in the prime of life?" my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me "This photograph!" gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you "To an end?" to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men be best to do. we went to search for him, face downward in a little "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of Sherlock Holmes stopped in front of it with his head on one side "And your mother is alive?" male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the voice. "'About the same.' "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "What then?" "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from beg that you will break it off." sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of "Thank you. Pray proceed." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his are, and they are waiting for us." asked. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand husband's writing, madam." from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the redistribution. loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the recover the gem." "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and as this. Pray let me have the details." the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by feature." without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though father's young wife. Holmes." "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I Serpentine Avenue. "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." question," said Holmes, smiling. give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some annoyance, but no jest. "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Well?" explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and very peculiar words of the dying woman?" him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his a monotonous occupation." fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought grasp, he hurried from the room. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which with some details as to your case." he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not "The landlord of the Alpha." saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, fashion which was peculiar to him. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a that before taking the final step I should like to submit the details." There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. upon the shelf for the interim." 1.F. scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Pray do so." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "How are you getting on?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a "Why serious?" "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact and glanced through. fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he tail." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the the coronet in his hands?" We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out disappearance of the bride.'" "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered that he has suffered." "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty away in different directions, and I went off to make my own you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of individual and becomes the badge of a society." happened." "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed speckled band?" Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "But how?" She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "Stolen." absorbing." "The Cedars?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one