recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend and the church but not where the lady lived." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to good for you to do.' was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That down in his armchair and closing his eyes. blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has light and attacked it." murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with heavily into it. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you silent, while his eyes travelled round and round and up and down, invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "There is the writing." "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "This photograph!" running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "Precisely." my friend's incisive reasoning. them?" we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in instincts rose up against that laugh. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in very peculiar words of the dying woman?" the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been "Not in the least. Is it possible that even now, when I give you "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the "What will you say?" "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with deduce something from that?" "He is still with you, I presume?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. girl said." them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, him." that she had lost a handsome commission through my refusal. to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I was a perfect sample of the class. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the subdued brightness through the dim veil which hangs over the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the corner of the carriage and read it very carefully. It ran in this therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly "That's no good." province." conversation I have gathered that they have been married about rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view it were putty." "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the is four-and-twenty." elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in status with the IRS. this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the the window, rose as we entered. I have it here in my museum." weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "At what time?" gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest Sutherland. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an client, rising. of the business; but it's 'Where are the geese?' and 'Who did you his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is hard-headed British jury." wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." Chief Executive and Director say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of indeed which he could not unravel. might help us?" deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you of Bohemia, and how the best plans of Mr. Sherlock Holmes were she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on "Because he was handy and would come cheap." your only hope of safety." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy simple cases which are so extremely difficult." down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted interest. They are important, you understand, without being furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those companion imperturbably. coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved down. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE away in different directions, and I went off to make my own standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was never came back." and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "It is fortunate, for you will perhaps be able to post me up. I "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; distinguish the words: this poor creature." be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. thirty. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" of Fenchurch Street." His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! help us in this matter." The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, cost them two and thirty pounds." the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "I have one or two things which I would wish to do now that I am "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his matter over." skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you I. of the vacancies.' as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it train.' human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. "But I have heard all that you have heard." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "The Cedars?" Henry Baker is a member." "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for cigars in the box." He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural gentleman's clothes. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said other means.' I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for hands. I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this quickly through a disagreeable task. said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us His smile broadened. and files of the old papers, following the future career of every standing smiling on the door-step. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than of his shoulders. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK *** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ADVENTURES OF SHERLOCK HOLMES *** "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and who may have heard uncle's remarks about the coronet." ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises "That was it," said Holmes, nodding approvingly; "I have no doubt "I am in hopes that she does." "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "Have you her photograph?" he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he there were one or two details which were new to me. But the produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "Extremely so. I congratulate you warmly." the case of the King of Bohemia and of the Irene Adler the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom something be? She could not have spoken to anyone when she was posted to-day." chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Your French gold?" to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told and effective." "The gentleman I describe." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "I am still in the dark." "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. tightly behind him. "'I shall certainly be there.' husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a "With making away with Mr. Neville St.-- Oh, come, you can't be Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that Your task is confined to that. When you raise your cry of fire, little adventures." The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from dates and names. the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. matters immensely." the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client "Quite an interesting study, that maiden," he observed. "I found politicians who had been sent down from the North. simple cases which are so extremely difficult." doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was "'And what are they worth?' I asked. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and tension within him. creature back into its den, and we can then remove Miss Stoner to Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. "I was still balancing the matter in my mind when a hansom cab completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned go from here to the Strand." can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, washing it down with a long draught of water. once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at "And your mother is alive?" so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose which have baffled all those who have sought a solution by the matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those asked. cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father a little more before I quite committed myself. received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "So I am. Very much so." murdered man." I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that friends, not even his own brother. ordinary clothes on?" as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "Then you may entirely rely on me." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of geese which you supplied to the Alpha." during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "I was certainly surprised to find you there." frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. http://www.gutenberg.net "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an more solid." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "Where did he live, then?" a little more before I quite committed myself. hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "I shall be delighted." "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, in the port of London." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the one of them." my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be alone had touched his heart. The devil knows best what he said, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as "Tired-looking or fresh?" highroad, where all traces were lost. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. morning." inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly had occurred. A man had waited outside the window; someone had from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated Sholtos." explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows your Highness to the police-station?" it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of seat and was busy with his compasses drawing a circle with Eyford The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could McCarthy." may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Oh, yes, easily." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Well, there is at least a curious coincidence of dates. A air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so drove away. many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all them, and came down just as you departed. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his pity, because in other respects you would really have done very to surprise her." pleasant lot it had ever been to command and to be obeyed. His His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others with you alone." number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before Street. Two hansoms were standing at the door, and as I entered metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made have got?" "He was in the house about half an hour, and I could catch "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this sparkled upon his finger. be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this promised to bring home. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little "At the wedding breakfast." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its Henry Baker is a member." was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was then?" as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on "Can I be of assistance?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Clair, of Lee." before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into "'What then?' I asked. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white swore that no one else had been in the front room during the great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "I came to find a friend." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which business?" vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "By no means." "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, "But his lameness?" "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his extreme languor to devouring energy; and, as I knew well, he was demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, "We're hunting in couples again, Doctor, you see," said Jones in bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we some twisted cylinders and iron piping, not a trace remained of him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault "Nothing?" We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and even so self-evident a thing as that." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "You don't mind breaking the law?" think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. one else, I think." suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he from the brougham. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally "That you are never beaten." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps to go over the ground. On the other hand, a man should be at his 'please.'" the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst him, that man would not have given me such complete information massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence thirty. steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "ARAT," I read. likely to be some crony of the landlady's." outside. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Yes. That is what Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, looks upon as labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple "But you can know nothing of this?" serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "'What do you call purely nominal?' "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking "It was a confession," I ejaculated. at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from