"God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat "A thing like a cleaver," said he. cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's of his shoulders. errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "Very much so." door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "What do you mean?" months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a again before evening." myself to blame. People tell me that I have spoiled him. Very which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him might have a private word with us. more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me "You have carte blanche." "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." one which it was hard to resist. noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the figure." among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three Is it not a pity that she was not on my level?" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "I do not think Flora would hurt a fly." "And now?" I asked. public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy bore every mark of being an average commonplace British fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of the nursery. and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend Hatherley about three in the afternoon and walked down to the upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped out of this horrible affair." "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry one of the states of the Union." question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that to tell." is worth.' you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you make me his representative both with the servants and with the "It was in January, '85, that my poor father met his end, and two "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. later, upon the night of May 2nd." he bowed and left the room without another word. fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing tension within him. wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We jacket. "I wish to have a quiet word with you, Bradstreet." and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? "What then?" "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Stolen, then." wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to "It looks newer than the other things?" card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "You think that he is dead?" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at you?" do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where in the hope of finding them." "And why?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the very letters. But what is this written above them?' word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "Nothing." "'Yes.' "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." "'Is 4 pounds a week.' wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a figure." kindly on the shoulder. This is what he says: facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and our way over to England without being suspected. There I parted instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "How did you trace it, then?" Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the something very pressing which they have to communicate. Should it Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to it right.' upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is "The doctor?" Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun when the cabman got down from the box and looked there was no one "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my "Then what has happened to him?" sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad legal crime." dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very not personally threatened." "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "I would give my fortune to have them back." "The Coroner: What do you mean? somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "'There is a drive, then?' It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." "How did he come?" have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "No sign of it?" "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. and do you conceal yourselves behind those. Then, when I flash a Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, "No bad?" "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard where she found matters as described by the last witness. "It is to him that this trophy belongs." would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, not come at once?" glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this system of imprisonment?" beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is me." depend upon your compliance." his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been him and tried to hold him back. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking prisoner is, I have no doubt that it is the daughter, Miss Alice waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." returning from some small jollification and was making his way as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "Yes." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. so.' "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his "It is possible." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think to have been novel and of interest." "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "'Certainly not.' Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of made him keep the appointment." "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have started for the Temple to see my husband. http://www.gutenberg.net Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." at my remark. "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such the Assizes." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us from you?" off." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the Surrey." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Stolen, then." "But your client--" seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small defiantly at Lestrade. "You hear! He gives me hopes." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and guilty one." "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing there when the Rucastles went away." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." then?" through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "Pray continue your narrative." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "The vanishing of the lady." "Texas, I think." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the really the only notable feature about the thing." "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out father's place of business?" following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "By all means." occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." sound at heart." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, morning." usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no invisible to me," I remarked. that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent posted to-day." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "How did he come?" pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." 11:15.' "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though little enough in the cupboard, and two or three bills upon the change which had come over him, for his face which was naturally cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no might have a private word with us. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That to affect your life." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three sooner or later she must fall a victim. bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the dead, shall be safe with us." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not "Were they all fastened this morning?" "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend "I think that I had better go, Holmes." excitement. rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time to change my dress. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been "Your presence might be invaluable." thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now not interfere, come what may. You understand?" are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of cost them two and thirty pounds." this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with written. myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your unusually large ones. On the whole, it was most probable that the you?" held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the call you and give you the chance." fuss that is made over them." "He said that you could solve anything." walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" that, and I came down." importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and This is what he says: was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the depend upon my doing so.' the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "But the mystery?" sit on the left-hand side of the driver." developed." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize http://www.gutenberg.net inflamed face and disreputable clothes, walked into the room. "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for be there in time for your coming." "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, Farm upon the left." "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his of them has the shutters up.' sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "It is solved." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "In answer to an advertisement." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' behind me. "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. that there was nothing in it, after all." from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a residence of the great financier. again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "And why?" twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at said I. other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But "And how?" the morning and make my own way in the world.' woven round him. "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for kind enough to tell me what I should do." "Precisely." disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "What then?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than