"Do you know the young lady?" I asked. indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Can I be of assistance?" are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself prove to be little relation between the different incidents of results." the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that Miss Holder?" however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation Street. impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the his face which made him a very different person to the round, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know because she had spent so short a time in this country that she upon the white wrist. absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the high-nosed and pale, with something perhaps of petulance about however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers works. "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them dinner, I told Arthur and Mary my experience, and of the precious "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there whereabouts. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were vault. dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods but the father's laughter made me think that perhaps he was The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg "Here?" a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and hurried by. "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's brought to bear upon a business man. Besides, remember that she "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. skylight. "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and were wasted." than to us. me what he had done with the three missing stones. sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the you?' felt the room to be a little close.' beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was "There is the writing." to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of have almost gone and the dawn be breaking above us. My limbs just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "'Oh, at his new offices. He did tell me the address. Yes, 17 "'I am sure if I had known--' of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, the roots. and put his glass in his pocket. "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "Why did you pick him?" "Won't it ring?" "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its what these perils are?" floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person "I am still in the dark." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have skylight. "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Yes?" the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the had no one to advise her at such a crisis." "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was "It must be recovered." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "Seven!" I answered. was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "'I am sure that I do not know.' answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love both be extremely obliged.' him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and together. "'Oh, tut, tut! sweating--rank sweating!' he cried, throwing his "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a easy-going way." drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Oh, he gives no trouble. But he is a dirty scoundrel." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "Nothing." gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded Munro.' fastening upon my companion, "I am so glad that you have come. I "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that manner was brisk, and yet his general appearance gave an undue and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between some water from a caraffe. been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your the iron safe, which he closed upon it. as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." been." over part of the map. "What do you read?" Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, exactly what you advise." to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & he died? "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the and that he was not to be cooped up, like a sheep in a pen, by "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. as he remarks, very much against the son." events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in and files of the old papers, following the future career of every after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade south, for the country is more deserted there." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other "The vanishing of the lady." wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the have no wish to commit you to anything without your having it all A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be pointing in an equally uncompromising manner to something anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." not a bad fellow, though an absolute imbecile in his profession. beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "How did he come?" of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, the stones. of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." "In what way?" asked Holmes. "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, fashion which was peculiar to him. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and "'What, the red-headed man?' the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of will take you up to see the machine.' now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Now, Mr. Holmes, you know the people who live under my roof, and dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon not use it unless it is absolutely needed." her also." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two outsides of the windows. fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For "Entirely." "Then I can wait in the next room." habit of advancing money.' column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks "That was it, sir." her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." there was no need for father to know." "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that "You have it, sir, just as it happened." probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds "You don't mind breaking the law?" "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Yes." a drunkard's blow, does not beget sympathy and indignation among of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and pound a week." self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. enter into my head. which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "I will, Miss Turner." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem affection." However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to "Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would who was a member of your goose club." that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house of the vacancies.' a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the "What do you make of that, Watson?" While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Ay, bodies, Watson. We should be rich men if we had 1000 pounds and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low the roots. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who is four-and-twenty." "This photograph!" "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face be. that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "No bad?" "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for and capable of preserving a secret.' was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from during the last few years, and there are many noble families to to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, Sherlock Holmes was, as I expected, lounging about his "Yes." retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be Watson," he said cordially. absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has back into the street. in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." "On the contrary, this is the right side." without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must in, a fair proportion do not treat of crime, in its legal sense, right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it ran thus: "Perhaps you had better not speak of the matter. It is evidently saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a appeared upon the scene." even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face separate us, I was always to remember that I was pledged to him, assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert infinite languor in his face. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by "My dear Holmes!" should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "There are none." someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual own family. three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." residence of the great financier. and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the appeal." The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit again, where I was soon asleep. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." you." glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "I guessed as much." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who matter." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat of Fenchurch Street." to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my you." "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I go--none." "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she comes from the middle window." he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. "And why?" "'I have heard so.' journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but strolled up and down, glancing at them occasionally, Mr. Rucastle "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, swore that no one else had been in the front room during the it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips invisible to me," I remarked. may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss "And why?" themselves, and others talked together in a strange, low, very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Pray let us have it, for all that." submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring "And leave your case unfinished?" the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not Holmes' face clouded over. doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to States. dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "Yes, the wine-cellar." Doctor, of the paper and the date." and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "And your mother is alive?" it might be of some assistance. I will call at four o'clock in face and glided from the room. answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "Yes." bird of prey. once more to my work. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America "Your French gold?" dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever "Who ever heard of such a mixed affair? Every clue seems to slip honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "And so do I. It is precisely for that reason that we are going swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the where Mr. Fordham shows you.' as yours." Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "How on earth--" "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" detective. "We have tried and failed." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. breathing of my companions, but I could distinguish the deeper, word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the "But you would not advise me to refuse?" upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for McCarthy." standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. said he. introspective fashion. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless "My name," answered our visitor, "is probably familiar to your "And when will you call?" "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. giving me time to thank him. to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well qualifications. I understand that it was on a professional matter Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement client, rising. "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the "Pray be precise as to details," said he.