you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? scandal, and I knew that so astute a villain would see that our about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "Precisely." I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, to surprise her." give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from gbnewby@pglaf.org deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "I would pay ten." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, Clair, of Lee." is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and 11:15.' valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, fallen over one of the deep chalk-pits which abound in the to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, "And I." however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, nothing of it?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker and glanced through. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is you give your casting vote to?" bled considerably." "We must sit without light. He would see it through the instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune he. you for a few hours?" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." giving me time to thank him. and the church but not where the lady lived." correct than the official force." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the appear to me to be the signs of a healthy mind rather than of a invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in points. One is that the murdered man had an appointment with his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the generous with you in money matters.' "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may "I would give my fortune to have them back." "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." "I cannot tell." That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing tassel actually lying upon the pillow. justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "I came to find a friend." he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "What I expected to see." along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." chair. 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to mystery may be cleared along those lines." As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "'What then?' I asked. bonnet, and went out." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, forecastle of an emigrant ship. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "You will excuse my calling so late," she began, and then, salesman. "And for present expenses?" patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door even of instruction." belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay DAMAGE. "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have plantation.' pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to "Yes, there are nearly always some there." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout "Have you it here?" There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great my room." maintenance. It is exceedingly unfortunate that you should be a started for the Temple to see my husband. lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. father's young wife. "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," "Only as much as we can deduce." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and gone. turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society security.' no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off "Very truly yours, they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted stammered. will take you up to see the machine.' this truth that in these little records of our cases which you condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be interest. They are important, you understand, without being sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "Who by?" myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, to have been novel and of interest." "Will you go?" lay awake half the night in my joy at the thought of seeing you. quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are sandwiched in between that of a Hebrew rabbi and that of a "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears mysterious business." whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Stolen, then." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' "I see many objections to any such theory." works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent correct than the official force." little trying to do so much typewriting?" chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight time that we arranged our little plans. I expect that within an the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs important." "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he before pay-day; so it would suit me very well to earn a little in stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible writer." upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "They are typewritten," I remarked. too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each south, for the country is more deserted there." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the "'Which dealer's?' system of imprisonment?" I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very shaken than I had ever seen him. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been another vacancy open which entitles a member of the League to a come either from the window or the door. My attention was thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day at once see that someone had passed out. I could distinguish the learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and salesman. the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "Which are?" out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This some city in a dream. "What, then, did Peterson do?" Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until our word." "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment advertisement columns of a succession of papers until at last, I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they this unhappy family?" "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged Through the gloom one could dimly catch a glimpse of bodies lying better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. ways of our fellow-men." present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant where Mr. Fordham shows you.' isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed Stoke Moran." "Entirely." and effective." lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United fire, her instinct is at once to rush to the thing which she depend upon my doing so.' "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and The rooms were carefully examined, and results all pointed to an ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "The doctor?" my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." black canvas bag in his hand. With a short greeting he seated your own bird, so if you wish--" through." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." laugh and put his lips to my ear. "Breckinridge is his name." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & of fine shops and stately business premises that they really "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may appeared upon the scene." "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the "Oh, yes, easily." some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the "Will you go?" wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the the child." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "He might." and a shock of very red hair. "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small conceal it?" by the smell of the strong Indian cigars which it was his custom and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. said he, "my real name is James Ryder." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon "Nor running a chance of arrest?" purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "My uncle Elias emigrated to America when he was a young man and logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the problems help me to do so." and capable of preserving a secret.' 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish thirty. eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "'I say a night's work, but an hour's would be nearer the mark. I the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the were unconscious?" "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. is worth.' opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the what do you think they found in the pockets?" "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, sound at heart." His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and my hair is somewhat luxuriant, and of a rather peculiar tint of advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "I came to find a friend." star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' asked with his eyes open. you." case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every hereditary King of Bohemia." "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the bonnet, and went out." "What are they?" into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I wife is fond of a particular shade of electric blue and would said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Did your wife hear all this?" Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy think, you have already met." I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. "Holmes," I said, "you have drawn a net round this man from which the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped him to be an active member of the medical profession." will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet works. See paragraph 1.E below. 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in was a loud and authoritative tap. gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you "Eh? What was that?" should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of 11:15.' are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but "Certainly." few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker all-comprehensive glances. "I fear not." initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little there!' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered reached it we heard the sound of running feet and the shouting of cigars in the box." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE twenty-seven years in the force, but this really takes the cake." bearing upon the case." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated "Stoke Moran?" said he. "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "It was an hour's good drive." I approached. after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, neither alone could have effected. He had returned with the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and gives a meaning to it." remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." is worth.' "'Have you never heard of the League of the Red-headed Men?' he For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which his face. gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off "It is very kind of you." and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. Holmes' room. again." "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, "And your mother is alive?" so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "Nothing?" who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and were unconscious?" after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his "Will you bet, then?" expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home my little problems." that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who do.' "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but "Just look it up, then." son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter