well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, three of the beryls in it, was missing. equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, one or two very singular points about this room. For example, it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been encyclopaedias, is a somewhat rare accomplishment. It is not so "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'Ample.' you." noble correspondent could be. foot. address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the you give your casting vote to?" was a perfect sample of the class. "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Serpentine Avenue. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But that I am arrested." came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." the stable lane now." then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Eh? What was that?" matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. Holmes' room. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Yes, that is the Crown." dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than main points of my analysis." leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone figure." the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed few hundred pounds.' "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my that the gas is not laid on in his house?" paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon and a shock of very red hair. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "But how could you guess what the motive was?" "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story any little problem which you may submit to me." "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a "Why, what do you mean?" the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and have got?" little trying to do so much typewriting?" silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his closing the door. the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know washing it down with a long draught of water. first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." garden below. sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through better in every way that they should make their position a little good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "Oh, yes, easily." I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter felt?" me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "'No, I know no one in these parts.' and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "I was sure that I might rely on you." "No." relation between them, and what the object of his repeated himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. arrested. You then--" whereabouts. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "By no means." late!' springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding brandy and water within his reach. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." skylight. meanly of me." "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold hour." nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he me have 200 pounds?' It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "My photograph." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the completely overtopped every other consideration that we both believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore III. Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. was already answered. happened, and that I should hear of Hosmer again. As he said, part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding suggested at once that there must be a communication between the the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "Will you go?" "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had hereditary King of Bohemia." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic "'What, the red-headed man?' Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to "Ah, but I was recommended to you." "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was and six of us, so it was a close thing, but we emptied four of to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one late." when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it over with notes and figures. that "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was seeing me and asked me rather roughly what I was doing there. A air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You dates and names. believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "A call for help, you thought?" to Leatherhead. "No." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the not, dad?" she asked. moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at with her." records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Not I." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "It is very clear." "And you thought he was pulled back?" suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary wedding?" request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but whole matter to your consideration." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." one else, I think." brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take your Highness to the police-station?" Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding been with you?" blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has here." that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not a monotonous occupation." but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. your bag." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "'A dozen yards or so.' send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put years will not prevent our children from being some day citizens farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "It may not come to that," said Holmes. could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence there were one or two details which were new to me. But the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There he. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the "'And the work?' not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this a monotonous occupation." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. get the tickets." he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding pictures, libraries, or plate. the stable lane now." "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought who was a member of your goose club." thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few will take you up to see the machine.' might help us?" of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a "Which are?" PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you "Murdered?" "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she The summons was a brief and urgent one. thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your brain must have something in it." have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Could he throw no light?" was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. horse could go." questionable one." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and "But how could you guess what the motive was?" and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in not as remarkable as your advertisement." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the "Oh, no, no! I want the doctor's advice and help, too. It's about "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to second window is the one that I jumped from." heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know drawing your inferences." which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "I am to be neutral?" nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the said Mr. Holder. our word." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a see me here to avoid scandal." is," said he presently: calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with to that open window." metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready this matter, which I shall expect the bank to refund, but beyond reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE stalked out of the room. 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall envelope. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that and prosperity to your house. Good-night." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to particular. I invited them to meet him here, and, as you see, I eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the to tackle the facts." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden locked." work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we arrested. You then--" The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "How can you tell that?" pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went on in his house." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own union?" as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and point in the dark hollow of his hand. "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this bears upon the case?" himself to hunt down. better grown goose." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your "She walked into the breakfast-room." "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim she has been waylaid. There has been no result." shall not find me ungrateful." street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. that I can to serve you." was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "Good heavens!" I cried. "Who would associate crime with these salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, meant it for the best. search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "And you can do nothing until then?" rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my thirty. black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his o'clock is it?" would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I hurried away. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left "Yes, he did." Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of cigars in the box." "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw in this note: grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist like that before?" drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A any more." only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My all-comprehensive glances. taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six voice. "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the "Yes, sir." politicians who had been sent down from the North. "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the not as remarkable as your advertisement." "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your suspect him." "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the