became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You outsides of the windows. "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "I cannot think." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed "And now?" He raised his hand. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, to you." him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a grasp, he hurried from the room. "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy deep tones of the parish clock, which boomed out every quarter of delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. "But what harm can there be in that?" adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it "But I am all in the dark." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "How did that help you?" another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear seven miles from Eyford Station.' "Do you know him?" Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He that, we may drive back to our luncheon. You may walk to the cab, "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "Ha! that was unfortunate. Your wedding was arranged, then, for 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "What shall I do?" "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "I guessed as much." I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have awkward doing business with an alias." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It throat." "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles affair. near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not the room while you explain this matter?" Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per secret." went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set may never be exposed to such a temptation." interview with him, and finding that he would not tell me the accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, the salesman. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the asked. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." "Yes, he did." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and singular points about the case. What did the police think of the him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and you." arms and began to sob in a high treble key. peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different strong reason behind." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have 1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass thought that she would have been so carried away." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon young Openshaw's." Dr. Gregory B. Newby instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business drove away. Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, brandy and water within his reach. between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was morning." "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'What then?' I asked. breakfast." and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could acted in my house last night?" tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." been with you?" were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder pictures, libraries, or plate. "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears taking in every detail of the apartment. that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer did not wonder at Lestrade's opinion, and yet I had so much faith to me. If I could only bring you down all would be well. Of For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." I have heard of you before. You are Holmes, the meddler." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." "But you have hopes?" "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks fire. You quite follow me?" man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round case-book, which he consulted. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of status with the IRS. which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Pray do so." unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The again." "I cannot imagine." "How about poison?" house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham man. I know him from the photograph." twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." deductions and your inferences. You have made two blunders in as yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and you?" place no limit on the sum I may draw." paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not the appearance and conduct of the servants. There are only two, a rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "I am sure." town until the last straggling houses had been left behind, and "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said 11:15.' themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, "I cannot think." desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your "I took the lamp from him, and I examined the machine very I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Not I." in a friendly supper." "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all "Whose house is it?" "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them strong and stiff." in the hope of finding them." pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the "Will you come with me?" asked Holmes, glancing up. must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The hurried by. cut was not a clean one, so I deduced a blunt pen-knife." we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new some city in a dream. He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "'I have already given you my word.' your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, it with his own hands." friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "Oh, yes, easily." rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "The gentleman I describe." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "Do you know him?" "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "'Is 4 pounds a week.' eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, twenty paces across between the edge of the trees and the reeds slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "He is still with you, I presume?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced to me. charge against him will break down." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was "My own seal." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to to take care of herself." considerable part in the history of the country. But if you have into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks there in twenty minutes." "Breckinridge is his name." "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot questioning and rather startled gaze. "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "Nothing?" felt?" his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" "I am about to be married." disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary "And how have you succeeded?" papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; have one." the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to he died? "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a "That was it, sir." questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over "What is it?" "How did you deduce the select?" "Frequently." "What then?" as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in companion quietly. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Gutenberg-tm License. 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. trifles." "So much so," I remarked, "that of the last six cases which I I nodded again. but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the daring than any effort of the imagination." uncourteous to his verbs. It only remains, therefore, to discover we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a 'please.'" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." help us in this matter." "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "'You have called me names enough,' said he, 'I will not stand it "The King of Scandinavia." here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the Mrs. Toller serenely. garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock voice. feature." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up Young McCarthy must be got off, however." is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "No good news?" "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "And how have you succeeded?" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my second." "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say "To ruin me." Literary Archive Foundation over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I undoubtedly my uncle's." stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. is entirely a question of barometric pressure." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, charged with?" compressed, and the veins stood out like whipcord in his long, My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I forbidden door. bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover appeal." overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to "But his left-handedness." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "There are none." him nearly every evening." metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "I don't believe it." my room." cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated said I. a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the fashion which was peculiar to him. if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I end of a long light ladder against the eaves. That is how he did cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint me. You must get home instantly and act." blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "And help." errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their a monotonous occupation." conceal it?" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from "We were both in the photograph." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I leaning back in his chair. such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." him with theft. I answered that it had ceased to be a private among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the dead, shall be safe with us." confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my conclusions. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough maiden herself was most instructive." where you should apply for particulars. As far as I can make out, with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "I am sure." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told "'And the work?' whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. present." sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord The telegram which we eventually received came late one night business matters.' which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove where we are going." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. strong reason behind." agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "I will do it." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" here. All right, John; we shall not need you. Here's half a the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a Chief Executive and Director Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "I am all attention, madam." this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his article?" will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said McCarthy's innocence. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do himself. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. rose-bushes. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique "What can it mean?" I gasped. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "Showing that she had struck a light and looked about her when of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and way in everything. night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the are windows in it, of course?" "Very likely not. However that may be, the young lady was very of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the suddenly upon us." they have decoyed him down there? The Embankment is not on the to tell." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given "You horrify me!" might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." foresight and the moral retrogression?" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself "Hotel Cosmopolitan Jewel Robbery. John Horner, 26, plumber, was "Not yet." some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a power." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "He disappeared so suddenly." quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. "Stolen, then." subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step