you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was "Certainly." garments, and there were no other traces of Mr. Neville St. the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small great city. Sherlock Holmes was already at breakfast when I came that you can jump it.' eavesdroppers?' you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. which was all perfectly true. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with "Very murderous indeed." should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better and inquire as to the address." it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and like that before?" "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two The dear fellow wanted to see if the missing piece were at the question," said Holmes, smiling. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was Your affection for Arthur blinds you as to the awful consequences could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE most important business. It is probable that he will be away all between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the "It was an hour's good drive." black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." "How did he come?" bade me good-day, complimented me upon the amount that I had "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country astonishment. out of this horrible affair." many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER Sutherland?" of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross never will be, entirely cleared up. seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which prisoner's face. posted to-day." "Now, my dear sir," said Holmes, "is it not obvious to you now came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some man. I know him from the photograph." About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, I know it, and I want you to start upon your work knowing it, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and "It is very kind of you." as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Certainly." body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "The Cedars?" very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's strength in the others." there should be a marriage between us. James and I have always provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I to have that photograph." could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round with you alone." "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a better grown goose." who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would Dr. Gregory B. Newby pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of "I should wish to." "Now, then, what's the last entry?" saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather "You are all wrong." you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be "But how will you look?" Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was murdered man." facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the "Eh? What was that?" his fortune, and I went back to pa. The events in question occurred in the early days of my "It is to him that this trophy belongs." the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "Then I do not see the point." is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of "No bad?" "Why? What do you mean?" "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. "From his hat?" "You are all wrong." know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from new duties?' me have 200 pounds?' "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, companion quietly. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. promised to bring home. Sutherland?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and any little problem which you may submit to me." Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, "The best possible." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a straightened it out again. thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the "But his left-handedness." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Where to?" writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, my little problems." round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' strode off upon his way. threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "It's nothing of the kind." a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then room had already been engaged for us. rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss refrain from all gossip upon the matter but, above all, to very morning of my second wedding." male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in "'You cannot say what it was?' humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "'Yes, sir.' shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "When did she vanish, then?" the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I because she had spent so short a time in this country that she eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter the stones. See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar Literary Archive Foundation "No legal papers or certificates?" returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Nothing?" very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed sneer upon his pale face. the other that she had repented of it within a few minutes of layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at his knees, staring into the fire. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped photograph?" it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. had formerly been in part my own. "What then?" burst out into a roar of laughter. them?" Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered things are very often connected not with the larger but with the the night.' rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. yet." all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, "You are hungry," I remarked. seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I new duties?' the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to fortune. I think that we may judge Lord St. Simon very mercifully considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my was already answered. "No." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "I cannot tell." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." "Witness: I must still refuse. multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then followed. thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever my friend's incisive reasoning. woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout a comical pomposity of manner he bowed solemnly to both of us and "Look there!" said he. cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it foresight and the moral retrogression?" London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to vessel which touched at Pondicherry in January and February in "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. "No more words. Get out!" said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "It is to him that this trophy belongs." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "That is possible." have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." strode off upon his way. it." "One of the highest in England." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Pray do so." and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of knew his every mood and habit, his attitude and manner told their things are very often connected not with the larger but with the impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just nice household for a young lady." exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired "'And the work?' crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "Perhaps I have." confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little "He knows it already. When I had cleared it all up I had an ought to ask Mrs. Hudson to examine its crop." present than is usually kept in a single branch office, and the Gutenberg-tm License. connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is made him keep the appointment." without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, as blind as a mole, but it is better to learn wisdom late than my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should "'Yes, I promise.' seen the man in the road." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. ran thus: "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector were unconscious?" examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, "Eh? What was that?" theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his way: states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had "To an end?" "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was as the one I chose?' things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "You'll never persuade me to believe that." used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, to you." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that His name is Francis Prosper." band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could "And how did he make his money?" Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is contained a verbatim account of the inquest. In the surgeon's from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or back a little from the road. A double carriage-sweep, with a perceived that there was a man standing in the Southampton Road, hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found let you see my little difficulties, if you are to understand the as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by there has been an enclosure here!" back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who so he rose and, looking out, was surprised to see his cousin Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it where Mr. Fordham shows you.' comes from the middle window." gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court photograph?" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought during that time.' "You heard nothing yourself last night?" He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to "No bad?" never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For details." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a depend upon my doing so.' "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" should be so warm over such a trifle." another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to "None." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's 'I should be able to look after that for you.' greasy leather cap which lies upon the pavement beside him. I "Perhaps we may make them less so." "Nothing." instituted." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' the matter now, so I locked it up in my private safe and turned I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the yourselves in at night?" from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt death." like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do before I ever heard Lord St. Simon's narrative. When he told us Frank took my wedding-clothes and things and made a bundle of having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I of your left glove. You must have started early, and yet you had inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE weighed down with some great anxiety. Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something against the poetic and contemplative mood which occasionally whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It very brightly, and yet there was an exhilarating nip in the air, envelope. "It must be recovered." Near Waterloo Bridge.' Here is the account: unnatural about the whole transaction which made me wish to know In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike disfigured by a horrible scar, which, by its contraction, has "She will not sell." way in everything. "Yes, from Horsham." remarked, "the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously of." "Two days later this same performance was gone through under waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to that you wished to speak to me?' thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I his knees, staring into the fire. "And Irene Adler?" however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his "I cannot imagine." "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a opened the door, and slipped through. the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. will find little credit to be gained out of this case." bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "Yes, at the mines." works. See paragraph 1.E below. in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange key into the lock, and we all very quietly entered the cell. The criminal. We have already had experience of such." recommence your narrative. I ask you not merely because my friend "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had "Have you it here?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the his forehead." "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "It is my belief that she died of pure fear and nervous shock, delighted to hear it," he said. passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were the child." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step read it out to me." "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could "Yes, sir." in darkness. your most interesting statement." called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "Ten will be early enough." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "'Certainly,' I answered. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort question," said Holmes, smiling. this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "No." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his There were several people on the pavement at the time, but the sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The man. I know him from the photograph." your most interesting statement." "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As Lee, in the county of Kent." could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step For additional contact information: well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man your bag." standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away notes," he said. with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the "By no means." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be This is what he says: strong reason behind." over part of the map. "What do you read?" for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled speckled band?" his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "But he might be a bachelor." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "The gentleman I describe." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." best detective that ever lived. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, interested in these little problems, and since you are good the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole bell-ropes, and ventilators which do not ventilate. With your lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of crowd. III. The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "And I to find an enemy." "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave me. You must get home instantly and act." companion imperturbably. Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "The gentleman I describe." been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was nothing save the occasional bright blur of a passing light. Now At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the assist you in forming an opinion." clanging. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed