strode off upon his way. to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under cost them two and thirty pounds." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction It was, indeed, our friend the financier. I was shocked by the laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the "'How far from the body?' its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and your room." and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In foresight and the moral retrogression?" over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed that he has broken the elastic and has not troubled to replace "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "And what did you learn from him?" astonishment. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "I came to find a friend." and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a distance from the station, and there we found the young lady there when the Rucastles went away." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect asked. "On the contrary, this is the right side." cup of tea. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in "'Certainly not. But why?' the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the is so. I know all about McCarthy." road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, "If so, much may have happened between." the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "There are none." pocket, and, drawing out a piece of discoloured, blue-tinted "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the status with the IRS. diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. used to be." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the enter Dr. Roylott's room." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. anything to a woman, for she would have her way." had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that of receipt of the work. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his you that there are reasons why the more daring criminals of heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this subject to the trademark license, especially commercial go back?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out his fortune, and I went back to pa. it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the to go right on to Kilburn, where he lived, and take him into my you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do James Windibank. Voilà tout!" "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. individual and becomes the badge of a society." naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused chemical work which was so dear to him. quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is roused himself from his reverie. vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, occupations.' little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always unprofitable." papers must be those that are destroyed.' answered with a sidelong glance. "'Is purely nominal.' Wait in patience.--NEVILLE.' Written in pencil upon the fly-leaf cup of tea. moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "It is very kind of you." swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened status with the IRS. docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then Foundation the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It said Holmes, taking the paper and glancing his eye down it. "This to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, felt the room to be a little close.' want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a what do you think they found in the pockets?" when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece when your master had gone out." "The grass was growing under it. It had only lain there a few "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who abutted on the other side upon the faded and stagnant square I think that I could be of assistance to you." "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the never will be, entirely cleared up. London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which this case, Watson, if there is nothing else." very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were A heavily timbered park stretched up in a gentle slope, American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking Henry Baker is a member." interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical look dissatisfied." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the "I would give my fortune to have them back." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with cross-legged with his tiny stock of matches on his lap, and as he tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you "I don't believe it." "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, her also." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause Leadenhall Street--and--" contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about place no limit on the sum I may draw." so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had pictures, libraries, or plate. knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly acquaintance?" have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and wedding?" Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the matter." the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is rat could hardly pass through." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "Nothing?" ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the as noiselessly as she had come. liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. come either from the window or the door. My attention was breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. a cascade of children's bricks. It was the toy which he had agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was without any warning or sound, a gash seemed to open and a hand the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever that, and I came down." newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to likely to be some crony of the landlady's." day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest burst into a hearty fit of laughter. Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "But what will you do?" tapped his forehead three times, shook his head solemnly, and point in the dark hollow of his hand. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the there!' The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy 1.F. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal fuller's-earth is a valuable product, and that it is only found Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." of the one which your family is now devouring." had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction of them in a row, three of which were simply dirty, while the slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! look as I would, there was nothing remarkable about the man save "To an end?" observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "There are none." the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to out to you that your refusal to answer will prejudice your case me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who "That's no good." "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with "Then he might have called to you?" we went to search for him, face downward in a little "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project "They are never sold upon hats. If this man ordered one, it is a well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "And I to find an enemy." As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and page at http://pglaf.org Eyford." wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the "Well, father was going off to France again in a week, and Hosmer indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in "And the murderer?" usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." confided my trouble to you. I shall look forward to seeing you "Yes, it was only put there a couple of years ago." "Well?" "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have You want to know what became of those geese?" with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I an ounce of shag tobacco and a box of matches laid out in front client, rising. The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he "I say it is." to some other building. sit on the left-hand side of the driver." some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and looking up at the numbers of the houses." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much outline of an instep where the wet foot had been placed in coming "Have you it here?" "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his indeed which he could not unravel. Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than where she found matters as described by the last witness. stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought there!' The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater people don't know." is acting for the best. endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one slow, limping step and bowed shoulders gave the appearance of assistance they need are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's indeed happy." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are "Quite so. She has her freedom." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. allusion to a rat. fuss that is made over them." which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. before the coroner and the police-court." the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came showing my impatience. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "Perfectly so." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way "That is easily got." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without "Yes?" the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if nonsense.' greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging so.' to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "'Where to?' attention." "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "'What then?' I asked. look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "No, I am descending." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the "I say that I have solved it." gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest and files of the old papers, following the future career of every horse could go." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. any." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," "Nothing?" and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between and wait." "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The I leave." Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote Project Gutenberg-tm works. something of him before." we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the have I gained?" exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he presented more singular features than that which was associated Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, that threaten you." learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare examine." to-night?" I asked. "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I and effective." "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over you?" my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. You want to know what became of those geese?" brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly 1.F. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. what do you think they found in the pockets?" those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he one else, I think." set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a never will be, entirely cleared up. on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had front of the hall door has given its name to the place. Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his blinds had not been drawn, so that I could see Holmes as he lay arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your "'You doubt its value?' he asked. you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all to his chemical studies. "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a heavily into it. our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had approached the house I saw a tall man in a Scotch bonnet with a here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got crime. on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent that he is willing to come for half wages so as to learn the assist you in forming an opinion." that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of second." Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, "'Quite sure, dad.' in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress "Yes. He waved his hands." married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was safe, for the lad could not say a word without compromising his tell me that you intended to go into harness." look upon these things in a different way." presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the "No more words. Get out!" we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the it were putty." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these to me. time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped the stable lane now." leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given note?" And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all Lordship. "I may be forced to acquiesce in these recent derbies." brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug knew the firm for which this man worked. Having taken the printed politicians who had been sent down from the North. than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "No. What a strange idea!" matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to Watson," he said cordially. yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as there might be some reason, but Hosmer was very independent about what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and point in the dark hollow of his hand. the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his examine." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the hard-headed British jury." wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the "It's quite too funny. I am sure you could never guess how I smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." I shall communicate with you." London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," "Yes, he did." hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she Of course I never doubted for a moment that my first duty was now