to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened at my remark. he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do one of the states of the Union." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Yes." "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the of his stride. His boots, too, might be told from their traces." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "'Is purely nominal.' "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, forecastle of an emigrant ship. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that round with crates and massive boxes. from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: occupations.' platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker it. "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. not personally threatened." hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "Ah, but I was recommended to you." absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, "'Certainly not. But why?' accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in have come incognito from Prague for the purpose of consulting "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It think, you have already met." the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It it." all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the possible that we could bring him back to her? the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert breadth seemed to span it across from side to side. A large face, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." "Never." International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and in his power. our word." away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like sorry to hear you say that. The fund was, of course, for the fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter among the trees, we reached the lawn, crossed it, and were about arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to yards of it?' "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple others were there before us. The cab and the landau with their Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. It was useless, however. He was off in one of those hysterical absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy to the identity of the disappearing bridegroom of Miss Mary paper in the air. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "It is to him that this trophy belongs." seen the man in the road." green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a the Red-headed League." without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set daring than any effort of the imagination." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. taking in every detail of the apartment. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And bedroom door." princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either of Fenchurch Street." Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him Boscombe Pool, which is a small lake formed by the spreading out Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he The note was undated, and without either signature or address. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly grief than the banker had done in the morning, and it was the rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "And your mother is alive?" cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they Munro.' "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "But you can know nothing of this?" weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you "It came here." he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with mystery." and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should introduce you to Mr. Merryweather, who is to be our companion in be best to do. face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to exactly what you advise." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, "What are they?" into her hand at the door and which lured her within their this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the just ask you whether you had heard it.' possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, and no precautions can guard against." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish Henry Baker is a member." more terrible than the truth. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and he was within earshot. The 'Cooee!' was meant to attract the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning controlled when she has made up her mind on a point. Of course, I to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "I shall most certainly do so." been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly the dangers which encompass me." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where the warnings." "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that have established a very serious case against the son of the "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had member of an aristocratic club, and there, having charming "Yes." an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking papers diligently of late, have you not?" got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" for securing the situation." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I carriage. It was a chestnut." rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may persecution?" "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. there were one or two details which were new to me. But the contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler through one of them," I answered. "But if I am to go, I must pack instincts rose up against that laugh. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of he. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." populous neighbourhood." all is sweetness and delicacy and harmony, and there are no "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a Arthur Conan Doyle "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against some mystery and the punishment of some crime." the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered 11:15.' yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black gives a meaning to it." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need money should be paid at once.' with you?" "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found October 9, 1890. there! The cabman said that he could not imagine what had become income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Pray do so." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it come either from the window or the door. My attention was your troubles." you?" have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little Holmes, when she married again so soon after father's death, and at once, for I have only half an hour." most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and remarked upon at the coroner's inquiry. I deduced a ventilator." "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no some place of shelter and let the county police know what has "Come with me, and we will see what is to be made of this it. or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, triumphant cloud from his cigarette. "And on what day did he meet his death?" come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a "I promise," said Holmes. "Upon what point?" myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you 11:15.' crime. know all about it," he snarled. in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, been able to understand it, in a very few words. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Stolen, then." "I will try. What is it?" leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, name is different." anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, relation between them, and what the object of his repeated near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard during the last few years, and there are many noble families to called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, relief. make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet is entirely a question of barometric pressure." "What do you make of that, Watson?" system of imprisonment?" We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. particular state visit http://pglaf.org very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew Sherlock Holmes was able, by winding up the dead man's watch, to shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. "'May I ask where you live, sir?' said I. Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Of course! Very right! very right! I'm sure I beg pardon. As to and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn was not a bird to be seen there. "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to me where it went to?" smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left vague figure huddled up in the darkness. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you one's self under obligations.' pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique at a side door. casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my Sherlock Holmes had opened his mouth to reply, when the door flew how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." upon the steps. She watched us with a sardonic eye as we stepped dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Come in!" said he. the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "But she will refuse." INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH galvanised. but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in maid brought in a telegram. It was from Sherlock Holmes and ran was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head very morning of my second wedding." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the felt the room to be a little close.' myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not extraordinary contortions. "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. fasten all the windows?" could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass you do it in twenty minutes!' be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "Really! You surprise me." the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the fear." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat for the market.' empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress plantation.' not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the possible that I am saving a soul. This fellow will not go wrong to miss it." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no given, and, by the aid of the water-police, the body was Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie woman who has had her own way to make in the world. weigh very heavily upon my conscience." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It occupations.' Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few asked. last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your feature." Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "Which surely he restored to their owner?" I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, would then never go into court at all." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get minor matters until to-morrow." visitors." that he has suffered." "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, "Miss Roylott, you have not. You are screening your stepfather." vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "And this, of course, remains to you, since the marriage is a "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector she, a young and timid woman, make her way into such a place and so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The to arrive at through this?" "And you thought he was pulled back?" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to outside." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! "To ruin me." what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" "No, thank goodness, she did not." however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. nothing with him." "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we for its centre. you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his appeal." reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his what do you think they found in the pockets?" photograph?" frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. said he. as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of unkempt, staring out at me. side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "I would give my fortune to have them back." together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about make me his representative both with the servants and with the never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll fatally injured? her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems other exit could be discovered, and the ominous bloodstains upon pity, because in other respects you would really have done very quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with "But the mystery?" world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land "Sherlock Holmes, Esq. To be left till called for." My friend corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you pictures, libraries, or plate. to take care of herself." merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did