at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "I guessed as much." for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to the coronet at all injured?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called true." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, "What have you to say now?" "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort is entirely a question of barometric pressure." wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? the driver. a few minutes to accompany my friend down to the sitting-room. A possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and man. "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." late!' the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey over with notes and figures. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me "Not in the least." stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "You know me, then?" over with notes and figures. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that noble correspondent could be. 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, father's place of business?" there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate beeches. As it emerged into the moonshine I saw what it was. It "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when with her." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free enough to aid us in our search." follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "'Certainly not.' "Not in the least." I rose to go, but Holmes caught me by the wrist and pushed me "To ruin me." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "And what do you think of it all, Watson?" asked Sherlock Holmes, It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in of Fenchurch Street." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of following enigmatical notices: the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential papers diligently of late, have you not?" had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the "Precisely." copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been "So I heard. You have him here?" folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone compliments of the season. He was lounging upon the sofa in a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, to wait until I got back to town before telling my story to the companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, once more for Briony Lodge. "I am armed." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and "It missed him, then?" "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer a little more before I quite committed myself. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were is now desirous of getting those letters back." bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a said he. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began skylight. swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply something of him before." rat could hardly pass through." though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that was a lad." "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "I don't say that. Perhaps." that I can to serve you." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is this unhappy family?" since it has proved that he has the very strongest motives for "Thank you. And your address?" "And is that all?" chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "I am so delighted that you have come," she said earnestly. "It carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. "But the mystery?" "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon Lee, in the county of Kent." "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's "Yes." strange features which were associated with the two crimes which playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where way in." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, will not take me long to tell. I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay you." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not garden below. still held in his trembling hand, 'K. K. K.!' he shrieked, and "Stolen." "He's a beauty, isn't he?" said the inspector. pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by thumb-nails, or the great issues that may hang from a boot-lace. "Thank God for that. But come in. You must be weary, for you have Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free could not shake off the vague feeling of dread which it left Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are the Assizes." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property money. I do not mean that any beggar in the streets of London might have a private word with us. dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "This photograph!" "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. his grey eyes. managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the the inner apartment." strong reason behind." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man "Yes, but only for you and me." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be that you saw all that I did." simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the seen the man in the road." may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his handed it to him. perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all "No. What a strange idea!" destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary "Nothing." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "You horrify me!" "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. mysterious end." armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a disappearance of these gems?" sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "No, but I fancy that I may have deduced a little more. I imagine it? Did I buy the geese off you?" useful material for showing traces. The double line a little the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in Mrs. Toller serenely. "Have they thought of looking outside the house?" had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "I answered that I had not. Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the in. conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch important." dates and names. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your tied." the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to spark where all is dark to me." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on over his head with a sweet womanly caress. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which relief. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I that you wished to speak to me?' the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door "I will not look." "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face I held the little printed slip to the light. in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "None." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful "I will fly, Mr. Holmes. I will leave the country, sir. Then the results." the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the "I would have spoken now had it not been for my dear girl. It do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie collection of old trunks and bundles as would be expected in such had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the straightened it out again. "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." caught a glimpse of rushing figures, and a moment later the voice that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" could tell me what it all means, and, above all, what I should heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my see me here to avoid scandal." lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have prison!" anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to the stones. "We have tried and failed." me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." easy-going way." my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand that I am arrested." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet at the time of my mother's re-marriage. She had a considerable his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I present." footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "Breckinridge is his name." "What have you to say now?" rooms." Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil Miss Holder?" that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United returning from a journey to a patient (for I had now returned to go--none." only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into yards of it?' carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect them?" exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Dr. Gregory B. Newby his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer in his hands." and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the quite distinctive." find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. "Yes. He waved his hands." on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a to-morrow." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, everything which you would wish to know." is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "I think that I had better go, Holmes." of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. Project Gutenberg-tm works. stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring the one as in the other." "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with instincts rose up against that laugh. of us could hardly get at one time. Ferguson remained outside, purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a of the vacancies.' "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little purple plush at the neck and sleeves. Her gloves were greyish and occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite some terrible trap for her." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, "And now?" He raised his hand. one's self under obligations.' very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and my friend's incisive reasoning. a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a yourselves in at night?" "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, said I. to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." door?" common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. "I was mad--insane." civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. never will be, entirely cleared up. convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included away to you." immense strength, and absolutely uncontrollable in his anger. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, gone. to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the took a step backward, slammed the little door, and turned the key row." "By no means." was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in John Clay," said Holmes. "I have been at some small expense over which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the remember that the affair of the blue carbuncle, which appeared to "Won't it ring?" "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of Mrs. Toller serenely. pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any "It was." has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and God, what shall I do! I have lost my honour, my gems, and my son "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. carriage. It was a chestnut." They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "The paper was made in Bohemia," I said. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Stolen." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must "My Mary? Impossible!" attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not clouds drifting across from west to east. The sun was shining http://www.gutenberg.net that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "VIOLET HUNTER." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and During two years I have had three consultations and one small the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of Stoke Moran." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One "To an English lawyer named Norton." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow the window, rose as we entered. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in "The doctor?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small There was an old chest of drawers in the room, the two upper ones Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, likely to be some crony of the landlady's." horse could go." which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I to have been novel and of interest." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "ARAT," I read. me upon any point which I do not make clear." certainly not very gracious." accept anything under the three figures? Your salary with me, which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the correct than the official force." wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation me have 200 pounds?' "I say it is." to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to "She walked into the breakfast-room." I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, there is a decided draught." American, Mr. Moulton, for I am one of those who believe that the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of did at last hear that somewhere far out in the Atlantic a George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who "Nor from below," said Mr. Merryweather, striking his stick upon front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "Come in!" said Holmes. "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said "No more words. Get out!" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called posted to-day." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a "The knees of his trousers."