copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind bed dies. Does not that strike you?" truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the "There you are," said he. "That circle is drawn at a radius of have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out works. "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed ceremony." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure exactly what you advise." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "How do you know, then?" them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a crime." multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Nor running a chance of arrest?" written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "In answer to an advertisement." and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second the table had not been cleared yet. Sherlock Holmes had been "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the became a certainty. myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "I cannot tell." Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her "Oh, fresh and glossy." "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "This concluded the examination of the witness." kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian "'What then?' I asked. chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in confess that I was disappointed. There was nothing. At least that think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid I thought that, as we were a partie carrée, you might have your your own bird, so if you wish--" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect in his hands." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I "Really! You surprise me." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." closing the door. relation to crime. It is a subject to which I have devoted some heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my woven round him. shag which I had seen upon the previous night. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in should be so warm over such a trifle." "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from that the gas is not laid on in his house?" "The knees of his trousers." The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and astonishment. it short and perhaps I should be among the number. Next day I was yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and to arrive at through this?" him nearly every evening." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was shag which I had seen upon the previous night. Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has there has been an enclosure here!" cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and said Mr. Holder. have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "Well, Miss Hunter, if your mind is made up, that settles the Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "Good-morning, madam," said Holmes cheerily. "My name is Sherlock Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought appeal." that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as silent! Oh, he will be silent!' moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are to-night?' hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him It was close upon four before the door opened, and a the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of information in his hands the value of which he did not himself unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, "Why, it's a dummy," said he. journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, neither fascinating nor artistic." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden Young McCarthy must be got off, however." one of the states of the Union." "But how did you gain them?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "My dear Holmes," said I, "this is too much. You would certainly any more." opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "That also I could fathom." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods writers could invent nothing more crude." sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business head. So long, then!" assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a "I warn you that they are very incomplete." slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "That also I could fathom." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always rattled up to the door of Briony Lodge. As it pulled up, one of indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "That was it, sir." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would have an American origin." his lad should step into the whole property. But there I was which our visitor detailed to us. Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the during the last few years, and there are many noble families to Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he absorbing." morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "Texas, I think." "Which surely he restored to their owner?" from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a clear to me. Your news of this morning, however, may open his DAMAGE. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" or other trace. But how on earth--" signal between you and your father? "Precisely so. But how--" "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in "This concluded the examination of the witness." I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and the salesman. came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies house for five minutes.' it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, where we are going." accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "A client, then?" "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question through the gloom to guide us on our sombre errand. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to Fairbank was a good-sized square house of white stone, standing "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we because she had spent so short a time in this country that she from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would ventilator." "Well, then, of course I saw it all, and I ran off as hard as my "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out man, with his jaw resting upon his two fists, and his elbows upon little trying to do so much typewriting?" window when the police appeared." of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was McCarthy's innocence. should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil "You horrify me." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the him, that man would not have given me such complete information Countess of Morcar's?" are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Deserted you?" The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I for its centre. lumber-room." "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in conversation I have gathered that they have been married about relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to bedroom door." bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I to-night's adventure." October 9, 1890. Holmes. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from to change my dress. "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the "It is a murder, then?" business matters.' "Well." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She empty. "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of interests were the same as his." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "Precisely. You allude to my attempt to recover the Irene Adler forecastle of an emigrant ship. where we are going." stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "'Which dealer's?' Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. fight. She had hardly said the words when young Mr. McCarthy came "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, one's self under obligations.' vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was together. I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment train.' he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that name is different." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "What have you to say now?" foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as "But you can know nothing of this?" glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge Henry Baker is a member." straighten it?" you?' "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an "Yes, all." was used.' given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "Why, what do you mean?" police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has handed it to him. "What! a murderous attack?" status with the IRS. explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that address. and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. never will be, entirely cleared up. "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I matter." we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out the stable lane now." pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. need not say that a great public scandal would be caused if any "What do you make of that, Watson?" "And help." and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream to a more successful conclusion." "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to object might be I could not imagine. It seemed altogether past Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was is a common subject for conversation. place no limit on the sum I may draw." betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been what is your own theory as to what took place?" the coronet in his hand?" Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "But you would not advise me to refuse?" "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I second window is the one that I jumped from." hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, "And the murderer?" "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "'Where could I find him?' after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and It was close upon four before the door opened, and a "I've got him here," he whispered, jerking his thumb over his that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Yes, only one." something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several developed." "Very truly yours, death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to written, and locked the door of the office after me. "But what is it you wish?" imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Dirty?" "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" affection." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you out through the wicket gate, however, I found my acquaintance of entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same "He said too much." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "From his hat?" a little more before I quite committed myself. weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "'Fritz! Fritz!' she cried in English, 'remember your promise passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was it with his own hands." The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began place of silver." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled foot. left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "What of the rat, then?" side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "She will not sell." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the when your master had gone out." gentleman's clothes. Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal went to the Alpha were town bred." "I answered that I had not. to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. once more for Briony Lodge. the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, hung like an immense ostrich feather over the landscape. his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon."