deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got was shining brightly. Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and undoubtedly my uncle's." business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one "Was he the only applicant?" of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "I will, Miss Turner." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the sparkled upon his finger. wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that Young McCarthy must be got off, however." or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "'I have heard so.' anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped main points of my analysis." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a ground I gained the trifling details which I gave to that faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set behind, though the sensation grew less keen as the weeks passed with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never with a hurried scrawl, telling her that she had no cause to one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "That is unusual in a young girl." closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "Certainly." do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "How on earth--" "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate nothing of it?" his face which made him a very different person to the round, "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the gbnewby@pglaf.org "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This "No, thank goodness, she did not." bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "The Cedars?" Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside followed. laid before you. I suppose that we are absolutely safe from 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just said he, "that on the day when my uncle burned the papers I "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me train from Paddington which would bring you there at about this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "It's nothing of the kind." foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "One horse?" interjected Holmes. said I. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the had picked up in the wood. that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have Countess of Morcar's?" it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle miles off. on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' disturbance in my wife." poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is "Breckinridge is his name." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. "It is very kind of you." "I cannot say that I have." judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "'And what are they worth?' I asked. morning." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Yes, at the mines." entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend God! What an exposure! What can I do?" what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "You will not go there first?" which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at all that he had left it there. Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle were both front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "It's nothing of the kind." your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "It was a confession," I ejaculated. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing promised to bring home. my former friend and companion. treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they trifles." "'What do you call purely nominal?' much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. thought that she would have been so carried away." possible that we could bring him back to her? doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would I shall continue with my miserable story. inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "So it appears." strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "Quite so. She has her freedom." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any me upon any point which I do not make clear." of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I to-night." which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per 'please.'" Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE Does that suggest anything?" you give your casting vote to?" King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "That is possible." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to the matter?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. wall." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the floor. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "That is possible." had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had sneer upon his pale face. and the whole place is in a blaze." very peculiar words of the dying woman?" dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I page at http://pglaf.org "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said family, and in my stepfather's case it had, I believe, been "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival maid will bring up your coffee." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE delighted to hear it," he said. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "Yes, certainly." "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every cigars in the box." mystery." hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend 1869, the movement rather suddenly collapsed, although there have for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." back alive. young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was against a man in the prime of life?" yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address "And help." that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, door?" lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman to affect your life." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "Dark enough and sinister enough." stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. fasten all the windows?" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and John Swain, of St. Augustine. horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Then I am your man." morning." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good but really old Toller, my groom, is the only man who can do here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the point our research must commence, and we will begin it by the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is Horsham, and all went as well as possible with us until the But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he The note was undated, and without either signature or address. elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, ill-usage at the hands of fortune. and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than persecution?" "Thank you. Pray proceed." Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself interested in these little problems, and since you are good when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of made him keep the appointment." and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at him!" a monotonous occupation." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased remarked. formed some opinion?" surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that "But what is it you wish?" A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked away in different directions, and I went off to make my own public press." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it you?" understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would is," said he presently: "No, no; I call him a gentleman by courtesy, but he was quite a Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and "The rest you will leave in our hands." was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his again, where I was soon asleep. passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, as he remarks, very much against the son." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were which it had come upon my father." The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY very old mansion. misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that call for protection in the marriage market, for the present "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" away to you." mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been without a word or a look. uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." was forced to go back to fetch the cloak which I had dropped in listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." friend's singular character. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in such attractions and accomplishments?' "And how in the world did you find them?" attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, "At what time?" seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "If so, much may have happened between." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold people in all walks of life. reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right to-night." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his be. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the considering the formidable letters which were received by himself however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the putting in the horse. searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is the ceiling. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, at my remark. which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small know what is wrong with it.' "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of unclasping of his long thin hands. however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses a very grave face. "Indeed! Whose, then?" It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, have had none more fantastic than this." "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" your conclusions from the newspapers," he said. "The case is as corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very house shortly after eight o'clock in the morning. I sat down have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be Eyford at 11:15.' and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong but preventing her from injuring another. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice of the vacancies.' Sherlock Holmes was wrong in his conjecture, however, for there reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little The telegram which we eventually received came late one night and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "What, then, did Peterson do?" even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had the coronet at all injured?" being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "I saw her in conversation with her maid." "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper companion, had assisted the woman to bear the unconscious man out "'Never.' "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "One of his hands." our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and minor matters until to-morrow." rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and out of the window. "A nice little brougham and a pair of problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" there were so many in the whole country as were brought together better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "My dear Holmes!" with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in "Yes." "But he might be a bachelor." minor matters until to-morrow." "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new towards the blaze. self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Was he the only applicant?" impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America tension within him. "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding