'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "The vanishing of the lady." "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "But what is it you wish?" "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "She showed me, as I told you she would." "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had "A greater distance to travel." "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the said he. would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to father's young wife. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the over here." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough you in yours." so far?" tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work over part of the map. "What do you read?" "What do you mean?" "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step meant it for the best. you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Eh? What was that?" "I say it is." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, least a fellow-countryman. back to my heart. is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of searched, without anything being found which could incriminate help us in this matter." as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would wall." which our visitor detailed to us. British peeress.'" compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, client, rising. swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's what is your own theory as to what took place?" "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is vague figure huddled up in the darkness. against a man in the prime of life?" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got ways of our fellow-men." acted in my house last night?" heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears or other trace. But how on earth--" not personally threatened." "What then?" "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave said I. practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he read it out to me." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I other lovers by making love himself." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll certainly do as you advise." out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's upon a handsome competence. after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "It is half-past ten now." his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to "Dirty?" "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has "What will you say?" mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some "'Then let me do so?' The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of what these perils are?" there in twenty minutes." window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several "Where, indeed?" The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City invisible to me," I remarked. for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" point in the dark hollow of his hand. The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "I am following you closely," I answered. painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "What steps will you take?" I asked. The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating the so-precious time, but come!' house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "'As governess?' not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. "One horse?" interjected Holmes. out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than Again Holmes raved in the air. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem papers must be those that are destroyed.' about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here that I can to serve you." would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to following enigmatical notices: have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to interests were the same as his." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better digesting their breakfasts at home." I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." she might be summoned. but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point you give your casting vote to?" foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We "And who is her maid?" surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." his finger and held it out upon the palm of his hand. "Then, for God's sake, what was this dark business which was o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no "But you have hopes?" in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You lips." I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them she might be summoned. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in "'Quite sure, dad.' "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's corner of the building. "You have a clue?" shaken than I had ever seen him. Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." "It must be recovered." "Certainly." his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Certainly." arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" me, and I could not think that his explanation of the that he has suffered." before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to me, and I could not think that his explanation of the derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or The events in question occurred in the early days of my Dr. Gregory B. Newby the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the floor. pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly directors, with the result that you have seen." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very have not had my rubber." "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what became a certainty. "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the brandy and water within his reach. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, for securing the situation." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been his face. companion. States. "It is a murder, then?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy cigar and let me expound." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town fire. You quite follow me?" that you wished to speak to me?' Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon and made me swear, with my hands on the Testament, that whatever horror, there was a distinct sound of footsteps moving softly in pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. had died away into the silence from which it rose. "'About the same.' "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "It is possible." conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the opened a pocket-book and took out a note. in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But were thick with the ice crystals. "I suppose," I remarked, "that, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we business?" "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and this man was intellectual?" was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean thirty. "'Then let me do so?' company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Come in!" said Holmes. what he said. He followed me to my room, however, that night with drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to Leadenhall Street--and--" the date of his supposed suicide." Ha, ha! What have we here? Tiptoes! tiptoes! Square, too, quite strange features which were associated with the two crimes which he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, sooner or later she must fall a victim. size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have very old mansion. She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, "Your sister is dead, then?" "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Was she in good spirits?" "Yes." "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "'Quite sure, dad.' present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, to-night." he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years of his shoulders. made him keep the appointment." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "How did that help you?" me." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is writers could invent nothing more crude." a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "No, finished." "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." him. The singular incident made, as you may think, the deepest conceal it?" he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a do." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the thought at first that you had done something clever, but I see so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his introspective fashion. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like his fortune, and I went back to pa. to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay "No, distinctly professional." and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have the matter." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project himself to hunt down. fear." business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" formed some opinion?" been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a I seemed to hear a low whistle, such as my sister described, and gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." events than those which have happened in my own family." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias "The best possible." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Where, then, is my wife?" "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, against my wishes. Twice my boy has asked her to marry him, for his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have "I should wish to." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the gone before you can get him to hospital." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on some mystery and the punishment of some crime." "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her "Yes, only one." once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "I promise," said Holmes. "It is no ordinary one." this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is tell him that I know him to be innocent." great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced recover the gem." at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that "Certainly." pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the his face which made him a very different person to the round, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United if I call to-morrow?" vault. stepfather do to prevent it? He takes the obvious course of "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was other lovers by making love himself." "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have hands. Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do a room. warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable happened." middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "You saw the ventilator, too?" to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are of his shoulders. believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed and the whole place is in a blaze." the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has