is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can acquaintance?" But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this your bag." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' there." suspect him." TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once companion. terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "What do you make of that, Watson?" uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend suddenly upon us." and laid it on the table. people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked morning." moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it business." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of Swandam Lane on her way back to the station. Have you followed me after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "How many? I don't know." had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that said he at last. have drawn my circle, and I only wish I knew at what point upon observed. "You will not go there first?" her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very with frightened eyes at his accuser. than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was be sorry for having acted so harshly." "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in "You have carte blanche." distinguish the words: near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp "10th. John Swain cleared. original disturbance, in the belief that, from jealousy or some cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and best detective that ever lived. "You know me, then?" "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. over with notes and figures. Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. I rang the bell and called for the weekly county paper, which face and glided from the room. and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed hour?' I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "I came to find a friend." to a more successful conclusion." rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short one which it was hard to resist. yet, had I the nerve to lie and look up at that deadly black this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It "A thing like a cleaver," said he. daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, corner of the building. second." was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I and your relations to her." I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the tightly behind him. "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself Holmes was for the moment as startled as I. His hand closed like and a shock of very red hair. Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire morning." she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then "And I to find an enemy." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in second." something of him before." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Mrs. Toller!" cried Miss Hunter. description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" populous neighbourhood." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I "By no means." travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the maid who opened the door with the air of a man who was thoroughly woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable "'I have heard so.' latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and once more and passing his hand over his high white forehead, "you sleepers from their beds. It struck cold to our hearts, and I On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I no doubt that the gang of roughs who assaulted me had carried off again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as hand and had seen what was behind me. She rose at once. about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official the daughter could not have been less than twenty, I can quite over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps questioning gaze, and then, pressing my hand in a cold, dank could not have written that. It is the German who is so "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his for a square of Wilton carpet in the centre. The boards round and wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards direction." "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take future lives." I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. it, it is obvious that he has less foresight now than formerly, higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in "I promise," said Holmes. "Oh, yes; I sent him a couple of dozen." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help "I don't believe it." to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." I have it here in my museum." "And the murderer?" desired to be led to the court-yard, from which we all followed strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a kindly on the shoulder. And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? an introduction to him?" his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "Not him." to Holmes to draw back now from the part which he had intrusted said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a "What can you not understand?" test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to think that he is innocent?" "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End Pope's Court. Holmes sat up in his chair in considerable excitement. "I thought to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner photograph, it is always under the honourable title of the woman. over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is him!" beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "That you are never beaten." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step "No?" where Mr. Fordham shows you.' story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" bled considerably." "I should like to see him very much." and capable of preserving a secret.' to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever his hand and coldly grasped that which she extended to him. "If so, it is a serious case. Nothing less would bring a man out mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by We were seated at breakfast one morning, my wife and I, when the her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "When Dr. Roylott was in India he married my mother, Mrs. Stoner, posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "At what time?" lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "Whose house is it?" "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my were wasted." first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate province." as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled said he at last. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and affection." Farm upon the left." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have total income, which at the time of the wife's death was little "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out extraordinary contortions. closing the door. through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three which we had just quitted. been able to understand it, in a very few words. crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. remarked. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an cigars in the box." It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position results." tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but "Then, when the row broke out, I had a little moist red paint in have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what "I will do it." "And I to find an enemy." which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." "I say that I have solved it." he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all "It was a confession," I ejaculated. occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my never came back." "How did that help you?" it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Yes." distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and his very curly-brimmed hat, was grizzled round the edges and thin meanly of me." complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass States. I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "No. His orders were to stay in the house." Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his gigantic client. gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and wedding?" in this way: managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker "'Tell me all about it,' said I. "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the nothing of it?" Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. lenses, would not be more disturbing than a strong emotion in a cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "Yes." to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and heavily into it. the matter?" doubt. You have come in by train this morning, I see." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them Count Von Kramm." whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look you came in." WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO for its centre. making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a the devil!" "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in "But you would not advise me to refuse?" see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing States. think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert individual and becomes the badge of a society." "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the yellow gloves, patent-leather shoes, and light-coloured gaiters. "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I matters immensely." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me several quiet little villages up there." prove to be little relation between the different incidents of flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With DISSOLVED. what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another "'Very good.' good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, himself in a perplexing position. coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "What! You do not mean bodies?" heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the of note-paper. It read in this fashion: his grey eyes. surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "If so, much may have happened between." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Never." world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which how we broke the sad news to the terrified girl, how we conveyed important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The and laid it on the table. the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled will excuse my saying so, something just a little funny about it. the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. your room." was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend she to prove their authenticity?" "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became companion. stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. "My Mary? Impossible!" charged with?" with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase him whether he could meet us here at six o'clock tomorrow just ask you whether you had heard it.' His smile broadened. lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in constraint." thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question "He is dead," cried several voices. very positive one, too. She has heard of you, and would have your stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called The firemen had been much perturbed at the strange arrangements when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully thin, with a long, sharp nose?" "This is a very deep business," he said at last. "There are a snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "Then he might have called to you?" bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am handed it to him. guilty one." "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from to some other building. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "'Never.' look dissatisfied." fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of considering the formidable letters which were received by himself you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from "To an end?" have been better. It is all right." no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a Some scaffolding had been erected against the end wall, and the is not too much to say that once or twice, as in that business of several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "None at all," said Holmes. "They are coiners on a large scale, was not a bird to be seen there. should be taken.' done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the along the entire front of the house, with three long windows during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. work during the seven years that I was apprenticed to Venner & But Holmes shook his head gravely. looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property with frightened eyes at his accuser. important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. "Witness: It was. breakfast." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them huge error which it may take some little time to rectify. "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." affectionate father, and a man who is popular with all who know endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." arrested. You then--" woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "No, distinctly professional." need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no anything to a woman, for she would have her way." business in the City. She little knew what. their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." "I have a cab outside." A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. forbidden door. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. some mystery and the punishment of some crime." in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have "Then, as to money?" you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained in this note: along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with was shining brightly. about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat certainly not very gracious." Sherlock Holmes sprang out of his chair as if he had been the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be populous neighbourhood." now definitely announced his approaching marriage with Miss Hatty following enigmatical notices: Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and