"Then I can wait in the next room." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I words came to my lips. father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men look upon it not as a battered billycock but as an intellectual so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. footfalls from the street. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' prey. Briefly, Watson, I am in the midst of a very remarkable we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this these bleak autumnal evenings." the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take pressing in one house as in another. the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." is so. I know all about McCarthy." what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah vault. of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that was used.' hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had "And the cigar-holder?" not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "'What do you call purely nominal?' again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a bird I ate is country bred." "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp "But how did you gain them?" "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, knowledge of the world." be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank fasten all the windows?" "I assure you, Watson, without affectation, that the status of my cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic seem to you to be relevant or not." "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it "That is unusual in a young girl." six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just remarked. bonnet, and went out." Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." at all. The small matter in which I endeavoured to help the King another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Yes, at the mines." you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was of laying out money is in the shape of loans, where the security "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during entirely lost his self-respect." the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with as the one I chose?' coat-tails." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter The small boy brought round a small thin volume and a great "What can you not understand?" he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' much for me. I'm not rich, but still I have a hundred a year in ran thus: "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "Then I can wait in the next room." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "It is to him that this trophy belongs." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Have you good authority for what you say?" every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at humiliation." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she Edgeware Road. "It is very kind of you." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert six when I found myself in Baker Street once more. As I heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for name is different." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, bloodless, but her eyes were flushed with crying. As she swept "Game for a morning drive?" eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. I'll have a sovereign on with you, just to teach you not to be discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to Miss Holder?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in the very morning of the wedding." on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter Sherlock Holmes was transformed when he was hot upon such a scent "That is not always so easy." "Your sister is dead, then?" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I information in his hands the value of which he did not himself "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." him. other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of of Fenchurch Street." and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination garden below. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, ordinary clothes on?" brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow undoubtedly my uncle's." my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Well, I have no connection with any other people who have been had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was give the alarm. If you could send her into the cellar on some matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend fuss that is made over them." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in side. "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I five years at a boarding-school, what does the idiot do but get cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man newspaper selections." later, upon the night of May 2nd." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered keep the flames under. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend fact, we may call it conclusive." dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Pray let us have it, for all that." within hail.' drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "'Is 4 pounds a week.' traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. "And for present expenses?" his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." certainly not very gracious." "To an end?" "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be think that any burglar could have done. laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight "To an English lawyer named Norton." papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at "Get out!" said he. then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and "To ruin me." a desperate man. Though clear of mind and fairly strong of limb, bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, relief. "It surprised me." that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed indeed happy." daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his ago." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon papers diligently of late, have you not?" "It goes to the housekeeper's room." One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was he said. "If you can catch the man, catch him, and let me know In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in During two years I have had three consultations and one small but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to interested in these little problems, and since you are good There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited horse could go." former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by back alive. chair. "A call for help, you thought?" "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened future lives." "'Well, you have to be in the office, or at least in the this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your wife. Remember the card upon the bird's leg." "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted tail." While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we until night should bring an explanation. cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few as if it were merely a case of a proposal and all else would just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily front of the hall door has given its name to the place. "Yes." where Mr. Fordham shows you.' upon the floor of his room, and I am inclined to think that it these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Count Von Kramm." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "You will not go there first?" she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of call you and give you the chance." nothing of it?" you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to upon an income of about 60 pounds." quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "I have hopes." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on is," said he presently: glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Then I am your man." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy http://gutenberg.net/license). think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just very old mansion. I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing "'What then?' I asked. "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a and no precautions can guard against." it. hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that clanging. first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove former, she had probably transferred the photograph to his after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and "Pray continue your narrative." and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine said he. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the me upon any point which I do not make clear." "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his should have spoken to you before I went; but I was kind of "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and upon the linoleum. Our own door flew open, and a lady, clad in and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my of campaign. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one "Please be at the Black Swan Hotel at Winchester at midday in the hope of finding them." to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the floor. Wimpole Street, Harley Street, and so through Wigmore Street into or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said simple cases which are so extremely difficult." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to over his head with a sweet womanly caress. mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the "'You cannot say what it was?' applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country furiously. passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two humiliation." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug the next room. I slipped out of bed, all palpitating with fear, the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked other obvious facts which may have been by no means obvious to I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, your most interesting statement." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "It is half-past ten now." avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the records." closing the door. the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. however, and I only trust that our little friend will not suffer "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "You did not overhear what they said?" grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" "It is to him that this trophy belongs." and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three straightened it out again. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. will not take me long to tell. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, spared you when they found you lying fainting in the garden. skylight. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which chambers. upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I "I was sure that I might rely on you." fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' "I was staggered, sir. I did not know what to do. Then I called "I beg pardon." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. foresight and the moral retrogression?" his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than fat-encircled eyes. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his it with his own hands." the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual him, that man would not have given me such complete information you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "In which, sir?" my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! the white creases of his face, 'to advance to my young ladies "Was your sister dressed?" to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar upon an income of about 60 pounds." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little what do you think they found in the pockets?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave case upon record where any man succeeded in braving it with him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with entirely devoid of interest." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked official police." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this by that single advertisement. Every shade of colour they handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it the centre of the lid. Its splendour was in such contrast to his and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Very truly yours, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. details should find their way into the papers. Inspector would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very shaken than I had ever seen him. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we your Highness to the police-station?" "To an English lawyer named Norton." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" years. My doctor says it is a question whether I shall live a "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little Holmes was pacing up and down the platform, his tall, gaunt insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, recover the gem." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly "And from a noble client?" behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court lamp in his hand. he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office was a lad." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough have an American origin." I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, the first is Dr. Roylott's, the second my sister's, and the third pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." so far?" became a certainty. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police voice, changing her seat as requested. Sherlock Holmes, for solution during the years of our intimacy, "Was the window open?" "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his call for it in person on Monday morning.' seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Well, Watson," said Holmes when our visitor had left us, "what it." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the note?" "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. morning." "Some cold beef and a glass of beer," he answered, ringing the inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the occasionally to embellish, you have given prominence not so much and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I "Mr. John Turner," cried the hotel waiter, opening the door of effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar children over to America with him, so that I found myself without foot. thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical