"Yes." them?" stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "'Certainly,' I answered. cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "That's no good." in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing certainly do as you advise." lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. American. Then who could this American be, and why should he was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of business in the City. She little knew what. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "Dark enough and sinister enough." time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, might have a private word with us. discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that Serpentine Avenue. the child." The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some with you?" bell. Holmes whistled. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of manager. fish-monger and a tide-waiter." undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." "What of the rat, then?" on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed himself to tell his story. Boswell. And this promises to be interesting. It would be a pity "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The do in these deserted rooms, and I once saw him carrying a large should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there must compliment you." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has nothing of it?" and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." client, rising. and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt my former friend and companion. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, "Dark enough and sinister enough." narrative." "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Of what day?" "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this dear old homesteads?" absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all mystery!" suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." foot. in him." of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time directly by questioning you." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon meant it for the best. have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. the bottom.' "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter Holmes shot one of his keen, questioning glances at her. it." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. present." interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "I have solved it." Have you good authority for what you say?" It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have next day. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black a good hundred miles off by now." "Witness: Nothing definite. Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the the questions which have to be solved--what Neville St. Clair was which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE of the freedom which it gives. I sent John, the coachman, to landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow tail." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet Eyford." "Do you receive much company?" he asked. "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily about here speaks of his kindness to him." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he you." bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" James Windibank. Voilà tout!" dead, shall be safe with us." younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, mystery." interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be the loss of it. faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary a few minutes he said that it would be all right. helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this lately. It is absolutely unique, and its value can only be has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that villagers almost as much as their master. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are "Witness: Nothing definite. closely." if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an souls which are so closely allied. It was a wild night. The wind Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and have no doubt, roasting at this moment in front of Peterson's prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "'Then let me do so?' My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a "Nothing?" "I was mad--insane." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all would then never go into court at all." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A business came to an end." conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Serpentine Avenue. "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, "No, but the enclosure is." time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and written. was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible respectable self." eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the asked. playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn bill, which interests me deeply." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "Her father is very rich?" we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin putting in the horse. "'Certainly,' I answered. "Tired-looking or fresh?" to affect your life." "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! when your master had gone out." "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he not fit the lock." month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "But I have heard all that you have heard." companion. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. the bed, and you in that chair." room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End article?" "Then he might have called to you?" way in everything. how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed away to you." the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "It is true that I have been generally successful." "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my "'Not at all. I only doubt--' finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you look, and so you missed all that was important. I can never bring the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are "In which, sir?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are and the whole place is in a blaze." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and was a loud and authoritative tap. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his it with his own hands." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "Yes, it was twisted." "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the together. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate "You saw the ventilator, too?" to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. have one." streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria "'What, the red-headed man?' suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, do you make of it all?" us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed became a certainty. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is hard-headed British jury." transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but them present such singular features as the strange train of so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser at my own good fortune. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you always that they were such commands as a lady might with was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide sum of money--not less than 1000 pounds a year--and this she dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "It is the purest accident. I cannot allow that there is any We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique his overcoat. "There is something in what the fellow says about has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the coronet in his hand?" "Was he the only applicant?" serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for A flush stole over Miss Sutherland's face, and she picked there were one or two details which were new to me. But the Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it papers." to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "Pray let us have it, for all that." jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I your most interesting statement." "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my take the flies, but not before." "But how did you gain them?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "But who is he?" my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have recover the gem." playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn security.' contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two "But he might be a bachelor." "It looks newer than the other things?" shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the locked. "No, but the enclosure is." "At the wedding breakfast." "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own "At what time?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "You horrify me." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "On Monday." making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. presented which may be striking and bizarre without being reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous pity, because in other respects you would really have done very investigation." "'Entirely.' night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they had died away into the silence from which it rose. obtruded itself upon me. How could my hair have been locked in with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may have been better. It is all right." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a papers diligently of late, have you not?" dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the gone. the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy not personally threatened." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "I fished about with a rake. I thought there might be some weapon As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate the Red-headed League." roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the intrusion of other matters." "No." "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Fine birds they were, too. Now where did you get them from?" well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave room?" had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "'Entirely.' more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "Perhaps we may make them less so." Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of whereabouts. thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "What! You do not mean bodies?" your equipment. face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have "But his left-handedness." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss hour." This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the something of him before." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out late." foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her Chief Executive and Director that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the frequently gained my first real insight into the character of the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were to tackle the facts." "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time I approached. He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything must be when I saw the door open.' Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that what do you think they found in the pockets?" sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the weapon which will always secure me from any steps which he might It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like part of the city, ostensibly as a match-seller but really as a "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "'Then let me do so?' they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other "Then I shall certainly come." had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution fire. You quite follow me?" cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest "My private note-paper." gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we pierced for earrings?" met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not gentleman, Mr. Holmes, came round to us this evening, though how the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He get her out of the way." said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "What will you do, then?" me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious forbidden door. The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "It looks newer than the other things?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out ways including including checks, online payments and credit card wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a "Your French gold?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that