where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "I have a cab outside." across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the carriage. It was a chestnut." hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening as it occurred. When I came down, Mr. Rucastle met me here and "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "I came to find a friend." I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "What can it mean?" I gasped. test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Certainly." you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would outside." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little to surprise her." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as it. dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I on the heaped-up edges of the foot-paths it still lay as white as his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and have established a very serious case against the son of the "How often?" Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his instituted." "Always." Countess of Morcar's?" other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "'And the work?' "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive writer." "Away they went, and I was just wondering whether I should not do to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one "'Yes, I promise.' point in the dark hollow of his hand. "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker her also." what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to persecution?" to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." you." week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to particular state visit http://pglaf.org tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. Farm upon the left." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying "Yes." "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions Street. written, and locked the door of the office after me. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you "How many? I don't know." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had made him keep the appointment." anything to do with the matter?" but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "And what did you learn from him?" "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that highly," said Holmes. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All breakfast?" pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that I have it here in my museum." assist you in forming an opinion." VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this begin with, and I had not got mine yet." "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said astonishment. "None." "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely "'Certainly not. But why?' possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. I leave." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." his fortune, and I went back to pa. The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress to change my dress. "The landlord of the Alpha." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges individual and becomes the badge of a society." "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she Doctor, of the paper and the date." "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was the stake will be some 30,000 pounds; and for you, Jones, it will glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Why, what do you mean?" here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly were wasted." John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "And you can do nothing until then?" Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, a suggestive one." "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! Stoke Moran." and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" mystery!" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong out of this horrible affair." "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Of what?" decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that the window, rose as we entered. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him perplexity from it to my illustrious client. gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I me--seemed to me from the little I heard as if he had a little that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had relation between them, and what the object of his repeated "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave when the maid, at Holmes' request, showed us the boots which her between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "About a month then." journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Yes." "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up "Was the window open?" "What is it?" stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this Holmes' thin, eager face. who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, "The rest you will leave in our hands." fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. questioning and rather startled gaze. education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between other means.' were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and facts before you as shortly and yet as clearly as I can. side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part assist you in forming an opinion." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. the loss of it. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could me." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in "The knees of his trousers." Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences drawing your inferences." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "'Yes, sir.' was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he Arthur Conan Doyle imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you of a light. to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured your Highness to the police-station?" and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed questionable one." is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. like gravel from a pit.' screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and power." "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Pray let us have it, for all that." ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH hat, neat brown gaiters, and well-cut pearl-grey trousers. Yet "How did you trace it, then?" brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "'I have heard so.' "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' together. straighten it?" successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and back into the street. signal between you and your father? "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns When the commissionaire had gone, Holmes took up the stone and "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since again before evening." for its centre. it." one of them." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" least a fellow-countryman. up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to appeal." delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped populous neighbourhood." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment hour?' "But his lameness?" "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "Come in!" said Holmes. mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as II. dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "It is no ordinary one." begun to whiten, even as mine has." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. never came back." pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought back to my heart. and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "None." "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled which was all perfectly true. myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are "I think that it is very probable." the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "Then the page we have seen--" observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while and the colonel ushered me in. now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after villagers almost as much as their master. The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "There is the writing." photograph a cabinet?" "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came and inquire as to the address." Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a "I cannot imagine." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "'It is locked up,' I answered. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing leave you to your papers for a little." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "By no means." vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' "VIOLET HUNTER." manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering future lives." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest what I may call a really hard day's work." the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind swore that no one else had been in the front room during the Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, McCarthy." do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I troubles have been weighing upon his mind. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I shadow pass over his face as I spoke. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "But your client--" course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was admitted him into your family circle. He is one of the most Street. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what charge against him will break down." the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "My dear Holmes!" remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "'I have already given you my word.' crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "What of the rat, then?" him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "Texas, I think." said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice the night.' time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his instincts rose up against that laugh. thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "I shall be delighted." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. ran thus: loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid "He is dead," cried several voices. Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "It goes to the housekeeper's room." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in upon the white wrist. "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was me. our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me you in yours." it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without seem to you to be relevant or not." battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." comes from the middle window." us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, "It came here." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, "Witness: Nothing definite. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the minor matters until to-morrow." Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to husband's writing, madam." "'Yes, I promise.' used to be." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "My photograph." flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She where she found matters as described by the last witness. glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps knowledge of the world." happened." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the already referred to. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Pray let us have it, for all that." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible crackling voice. Arthur Conan Doyle such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and