"Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was maid will bring up your coffee." I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed his grey eyes. "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm "That's no good." repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "That is it on the dressing-table." congenial hunt. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search "Witness: I must still refuse. instituted." devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "'Never.' "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man "Pray do so." about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into "He might." to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after Cross for the Continent." through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand outside, well-groomed and trimly clad, with something of "Nothing." order to put the matter to the proof. I heard the creature hiss young Openshaw's." "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at "It came here." "We have tried and failed." over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." "You have the photograph?" chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning down the street, "here is a madman coming along. It seems rather had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest to his chemical studies. the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on Watson," he said cordially. morning." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" writers could invent nothing more crude." "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "No, finished." enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less of campaign. "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "And did you observe any change in her then?" "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, entirely devoid of interest." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable "It is solved." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' promised to bring home. twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry "No, I had a dozen." arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I the nursery. way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case Sholtos." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." morning." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp highroad, where all traces were lost. We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. before the coroner and the police-court." "I promise," said Holmes. is acting for the best. "I will not look." "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he of the way of danger. "'Yes, sir.' few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters absorbing." The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be meant." "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "Not social, then?" would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "Yes." "I should like to see him very much." "So it appears." it." ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "'What are you doing there?' he asked. "'Why that?' I asks. Sholtos." "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in "Yes?" glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a crowd. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it "No." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, some terrible trap for her." breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "We have tried and failed." you." he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a depend so entirely upon small points, which might seem trivial to into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, get the tickets." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "'There is a drive, then?' works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he centre, on which several German books were scattered. Colonel shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and "Was he the only applicant?" absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and into the bag, and made for the door. by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand "She will not sell." remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "Stolen, then." France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to "I fully share your opinion, and I trust, with you, that we may The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of What do you deduce from it?" "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could think you a quite exceptional woman." one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "Yes." look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring "Nearly eleven." Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. heavily into it. I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "You'll never persuade me to believe that." down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from and effective." have I gained?" "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money surrounded myself with a cloud of newspapers until at last, and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. photograph?" shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' answered with a sidelong glance. "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" fell over into the pew. There was a moment's delay, but the hard-headed British jury." if she died from some sudden fright." His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step you to implore you to use your skill in unravelling the matter. "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, "I beg pardon." America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush depend upon my doing so.' and inquire as to the address." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective Eyford at 11:15.' observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "But the mystery?" "Nothing." in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Frequently." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, "'And the work?' whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her union?" round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked and warm-hearted in her ways, so that it was evident that with pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be is worth.' me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "Did you become engaged then?" events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." "'Stolen!' he cried. she to prove their authenticity?" "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Pray tell us what has happened to you." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, of the matter, Lord St. Simon, I have brought an advocate here "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It who was a member of your goose club." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "I was certainly surprised to find you there." "We were both in the photograph." "But she could not love him." purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. only fair to them to say that. But I cannot understand them, and who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his way in." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll upon record before, but a promise of secrecy was made at the data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be would then never go into court at all." "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an the right must be the lodge. I think that I will go in and have a remarked. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I trying to your nerves." "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a rooms." Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of friends, not even his own brother. Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, his wife has ceased to love him." as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding second window is the one that I jumped from." shoulder. "I will try. What is it?" roused himself from his reverie. Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were off." to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action "Not in a good cause." it? Did I buy the geese off you?" was shining brightly. which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this tradesmen's entrance. On the left ran a lane which led to the saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. "And the murderer?" keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was all-comprehensive glances. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at felt?" night.' said he. abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the confronted him. imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Nothing." crowd. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one saw, at the border of the wood and close by the lake, Mr. "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the License. You must require such a user to return or should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking tell him that I know him to be innocent." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off straighten it?" "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for carriage. It was a chestnut." himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's But Holmes shook his head gravely. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in you, my dear young lady?' public, though little used, thoroughfare. Holmes left us standing several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. "Did you observe the colour?" filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, lowered my handkerchief and glanced at Mrs. Rucastle to find her as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of outbreak?" and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark there in twenty minutes." silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I "I was sure that I might rely on you." he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at coroner's jury." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in de Vere St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral.' Hum! 'Arms: where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time Heh?' questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank "He might." are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if Eyford." there were so many in the whole country as were brought together age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Ha! you find it so?" "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of congratulate you again." get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the 6d., glass sherry, 8d.' I see nothing in that." stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "What have you done?" asked Holmes. "'There is a drive, then?' "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. second." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for his knees, as though it had dropped in sheer lassitude from his "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to photograph becomes a double-edged weapon now. The chances are "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing face and glided from the room. it with his own hands." and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by "'I have heard so.' while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "I promise," said Holmes. every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in fluttered off among the others. greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking "That is it on the dressing-table." "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time were new raised from a basin. the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but such an expenditure as they were at. It must, then, be something "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "I would give my fortune to have them back." pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon children over to America with him, so that I found myself without