"Good heavens!" she cried, "he has followed me, then." hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait populous neighbourhood." lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. "And you don't know his address?" there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH that the gas is not laid on in his house?" money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest take the flies, but not before." it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." finished when Holmes returned with the news that the boy was few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between green of the new foliage. to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel Can you remember any other little things about Mr. Hosmer Angel?" sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the "A thing like a cleaver," said he. I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began self-reproach and contrition which are displayed in his remark visitors." which it had come upon my father." she slowly sank and died without having recovered her the side-table." realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Leave Paddington by the 11:15." Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set "Pray take a seat, Miss Hunter. I shall be happy to do anything side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the My friend was an enthusiastic musician, being himself not only a red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "But we can't all be." St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I dinner. Seldom goes out at other times, except when she sings. outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "Pray continue your narrative." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. "A client, then?" "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his "But it has twice been burgled." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was minor matters until to-morrow." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "So it appears." creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If obstinate." The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" too. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very an introduction to him?" must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? Again Holmes raved in the air. the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. "But to whom?" vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "No, thank goodness, she did not." "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can made him keep the appointment." ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might "'About the same.' evidence is occasionally very convincing, as when you find a "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you bore every mark of being an average commonplace British side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that detective. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you dear old homesteads?" "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a individual and becomes the badge of a society." "I have come for advice." like gravel from a pit.' eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent overcoat, in his flight, and must have had the hardihood to and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "That sounds a little paradoxical." drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "I promise," said Holmes. she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at "I was sure that I might rely on you." Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "The gentleman I describe." perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United "To an end?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps these bleak autumnal evenings." knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the very peculiar words of the dying woman?" would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the electronic works "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "Your French gold?" "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no point in the dark hollow of his hand. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "'Is 4 pounds a week.' its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "An enemy?" at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than Holmes rather sternly. of the efforts of the United States government and of the better dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "I saw her in conversation with her maid." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "As long as she was on the scene he could not take any action continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But said he. away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for "Imitated." the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and been anything against him. He had for years been known as a of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, "You don't mind breaking the law?" well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing second." "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out he. stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was "I was sure that I might rely on you." "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and "My stepfather's business papers." smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been not, dad?" she asked. Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change points to suicide?" lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of detained." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. and the church but not where the lady lived." "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on man. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my pictures, libraries, or plate. "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "Only once, some years ago. I remember that it was full of in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is "But the mystery?" saw that they exactly fitted the tracks." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand washing it down with a long draught of water. if she died from some sudden fright." copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There know what is wrong with it.' Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in turning away from me with a sneer. I saw that he was too hardened "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you question. cheerful." been with you?" Eyford." read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the became a certainty. the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little one else, I think." to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I green of the new foliage. how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of never will be, entirely cleared up. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the The events in question occurred in the early days of my shadow pass over his face as I spoke. "To ruin me." flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly place of silver." "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out more solid." make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had a monotonous occupation." the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence "Pray do so." reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small roused himself from his reverie. "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "The fish that you have tattooed immediately above your right "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray married her." prisoner's face. hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, you want, then?' noble correspondent could be. me." photograph a cabinet?" and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third back alive. door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates him!" Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were "I warn you that they are very incomplete." is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your taking in every detail of the apartment. the south-west, I see." of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "I will try. What is it?" key of the affair now." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle "That is easily got." McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the He walked swiftly round from one to the other, pausing only at leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very remarkable. I feared to refer them to you, however, as I knew Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his this as likely?" course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Round this corner were three doors in a line, the first and third I did so, and saw a large "E" with a small "g," a "P," and a "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in over with notes and figures. McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY already referred to. I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' impression generally of a man of learning and letters who had had unkempt, staring out at me. http://gutenberg.net/license). every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "In answer to an advertisement." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to "A greater distance to travel." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a Peterson, so that he was left in possession of the field of undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "But she could not love him." sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found shoulder; "he's all right." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune just called myself is not exactly my own." deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this up, and also in a facility of repartee, which improved by Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Were you engaged to the gentleman at this time?" the man were a philanthropist or a villain, it was quite beyond by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. all that?" sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we intrusion of other matters." always that they were such commands as a lady might with "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There the salesman. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "You may address me as the Count Von Kramm, a Bohemian nobleman. in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so "Yes." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has St. Simon is a myth. There is not, and there never has been, any reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one labyrinth of small streets which lie at the back of Tottenham note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of mysterious business." Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "You are certainly joking, Holmes." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce order to see whether anything had turned up which might suit me. "Then, how do you know?" "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am possess; and I remain, dear Mr. Sherlock Holmes, is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I he continued, flushing up at the sight of the bitter sneer upon "Where to?" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the have during the last eight years studied the methods of my friend understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "I guessed as much." peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all point. It is of importance. Good has come out of evil, however, of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. returned, feeling very much easier. A horrible doubt came into my was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the said he. the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "Yes, sir." sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the woman." "It is possible." "I hope that I may have the pleasure of introducing you to-night. the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too stepfather?" wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in "I should like to see him very much." drove away. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. Heh?' said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole said he. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke help us in this matter." touch that coronet?' nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my Never in my life have I seen such a sight. The man's face peeled All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the station." from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." "And how?" VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "I cannot tell." problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon flew open, and a little blonde woman stood in the opening, clad ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner way in everything. had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he Eyford."