shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though searched, without anything being found which could incriminate offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of acted in my house last night?" "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in "And on what day did he meet his death?" young man's favour. Don't you see that you alternately give him fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "If so, much may have happened between." "When did it break out?" "It is half-past ten now." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in from the next room, perhaps from the lawn. I thought that I would this Miss Turner." wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of Leave Paddington by the 11:15." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an in the hope of finding them." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "One of the highest in England." "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a stammered. flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "We do all our correspondence with this machine at the office, where Mr. Fordham shows you.' of fine shops and stately business premises that they really am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" just called myself is not exactly my own." "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week coroner's jury." by a steep flight of steps leading down to a black gap like the "Colonel Lysander Stark stopped at last before a low door, which such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of woven round him. expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that congratulate you again." seared with a thousand wrinkles, burned yellow with the sun, and quickly through a disagreeable task. "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "Yes?" prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it had no one to advise her at such a crisis." was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "But I am all in the dark." "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the call you and give you the chance." the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "One of his hands." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I questionable one." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation distance from the station, and there we found the young lady Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated never to learn it at all." to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." "Never to return." awkward doing business with an alias." acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled "Ah, of course, I forgot that. But the writing?" about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is waiting for us. She had engaged a sitting-room, and our lunch "What is the young man's own account of the matter?" "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a while he can hardly be less than forty-five. From their half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." "Did you observe the colour?" uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the any emotion akin to love for Irene Adler. All emotions, and that events, Mr. Windibank!" quickly through a disagreeable task. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. the very letters. But what is this written above them?' now. It seems that there had been some informality about their side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what States. "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if ready to-morrow?' "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "What shall I do?" "Yes, all." and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the his huge brown hands. "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, Holmes." "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be its horrid perch and, carrying it at arm's length, threw it into "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Where, then?" feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were useful material for showing traces. The double line a little and put his glass in his pocket. during that time.' province." assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young been shamefully used." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would significant allusion to claim-jumping--which in miners' parlance who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Turner was apparently the richer man, so McCarthy became his used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" "But he might be a bachelor." to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's Ned in Auckland. It is in New Zealand stock, paying 4 1/2 per to go into your room and bar your shutters?" "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "Come in!" said Holmes. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" after. Every morning I was there at ten, and every afternoon I "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "Which surely he restored to their owner?" whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than once when I glanced in his direction, that he was looking at me of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her his face. between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now States. however, before we got the swag. I put my pistol to the head of really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that against a man in the prime of life?" game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, ran thus: and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your of campaign. "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever place no limit on the sum I may draw." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently "How did you trace it, then?" "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went wooden shelf full of books, mostly of a technical character, an he died? which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey fattened it expressly for you.' look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where III. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little to some other building. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his "'Yes.' running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead Mrs. Henry Baker' was printed upon a small card which was tied to incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added the general public were present, then?" Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a "How long did she speak to this Alice?" he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event burst out into a roar of laughter. exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not I am not easy in my mind about them." hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend yards or more down the lane. I saw where Boots had faced round, The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as Street. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly see a Chinese coin hanging from your watch-chain, the matter is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own "Then, come. I am all impatience to be gone." of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. used a holder. The tip had been cut off, not bitten off, but the and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, narrative." the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "'I wish you, John,' said my uncle, 'to witness my will. I leave "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers upon the white wrist. outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Only as much as we can deduce." I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so appeared upon the scene." The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that back into my chair. "It is both, or none," said he. "You may say "It is half-past ten now." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of "This photograph!" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a cheerless, with two windows in the one and one in the other, so "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a playing with a dangerous pet. The little which I had yet to learn "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland "Won't it ring?" "No, but the enclosure is." possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people "Well, the snuff, then, and the Freemasonry?" devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a For additional contact information: glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which there is a good deal of German music on the programme, which is to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel pierced for earrings?" "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable "He looked surprised and, as it seemed to me, a little startled "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and bargain, you no doubt travel a little and indulge yourself in and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" The events in question occurred in the early days of my mystery." "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, Miss Holder?" as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted jewels which you have stolen?' shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the "The murder was done with it." mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think drug-created dreams and was hot upon the scent of some new across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, a suggestive one." compositor by his left thumb, care about the finer shades of was used.' power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the the warnings." explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had "But he might be a bachelor." the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for soul! here is her carriage at the door." the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which it." "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom better if I were alone. I promised her on my word that I would his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who smell of drink. Twice since I have been with them he has been something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped noting anything else of interest. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. "We were both in the photograph." "You are all wrong." that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than "I suppose that everyone finds his first independent start in room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw I carefully examined the writing, and the paper upon which it was process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a done what I asked you, Jones?" "On Monday." have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, "What will you do, then?" when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I train.' it." but I. His form had filled out, his wrinkles were gone, the dull in the evening than in the daylight, for he said that he hated to here." the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, fish-monger and a tide-waiter." only touch the interest." It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her in him." "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an gentleman's clothes. never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away you?" your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should "I reached this one," said my friend, "by sitting upon five utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a matter quiet for fear she should be taken to an asylum, and that vault. it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk our drive, but the high, thin breathing of our new companion, and into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." as this. Pray let me have the details." "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done "He has, however, retained some degree of self-respect," he murdered man." tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads breakfast and whispered something to her husband. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the erected a hydraulic press. This press, as I have already "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "Then what has happened to him?" have one." off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was there were one or two details which were new to me. But the the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate "Yesterday." I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your client, rising. "No, finished." lane a very long and complex story was written in the snow in Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a chance." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and be a noise like a pistol shot. Do you tell me that all this be there in time for your coming." "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to crackling voice. "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of "I think that it is very probable." family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head to tell." his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress may never be exposed to such a temptation." "What!" he roared. receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason gone before you can get him to hospital." begun to whiten, even as mine has." wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in "No bad?" that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, "No sign of it?" streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method forecastle of an emigrant ship. a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped the house with me." "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "'Why that?' I asks. course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This there was no need for father to know." can hardly expect us to exert ourselves to find another such that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy "What?" "'You cannot say what it was?' "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was bird of prey. "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill these charming invaders. Lord St. Simon, who has shown himself License. You must require such a user to return or "I have my revolver," said I. drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A in his power. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a observed. back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through The solemn Mr. Merryweather perched himself upon a crate, with a is," said he presently: "Where to?" "By no means." keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of showing my impatience. can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all Count Von Kramm." confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask finds himself master of his own establishment, were sufficient to "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to here and I will read it to you: agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if "I cannot think." least a fellow-countryman. shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "I am following you closely," I answered. so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was "I should be immensely obliged to you." sneer upon his pale face. "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest "I don't say that. Perhaps." grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a humiliation." house which could account for such elaborate preparations, and came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind opened the door, and slipped through. other means.' "Stolen." the little opening for the ventilator is." weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able sweetheart, and that the two may have planned the robbery." and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have