"Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. business at Coburg Square is serious." Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! "I believe that he is coming here," said Holmes, rubbing his work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few your most interesting statement." "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City help us in this matter." reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the "That will do," said Holmes. "As to the letters," he continued, her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until impossible, but I soon devised a means. My hand-mirror had been "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled be married in the course of the spring. Two days ago some repairs was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a to-night?" I asked. served to turn my conjecture into a certainty. Circumstantial But Holmes shook his head gravely. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband "From his hat?" cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of presented which may be striking and bizarre without being I trust that I am not more dense than my neighbours, but I was door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard Mr. Windibank sprang out of his chair and picked up his hat. "I of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the "You are certainly joking, Holmes." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There Norton, as our client is to its coming to the eyes of his pierced for earrings?" to-night?' conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We be sorry for having acted so harshly." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "None." consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." answered with a sidelong glance. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a "And what did you see?" "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, papers diligently of late, have you not?" from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small occupant, perhaps she might escape every night for a week, but boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming she used." his lateness caused me no surprise. I do not know at what hour he at the side window of the hall, which she closed and fastened as in reference to the very painful event which has occurred in study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature spare." Bradstreet, of Scotland Yard, a plain-clothes man, and myself. did not hear it also.' vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my fuss that is made over them." and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium the advantages of a cabman as a confidant. They had driven him come either from the window or the door. My attention was However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond of it with the greatest attention. she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had burst into a hearty fit of laughter. "This concluded the examination of the witness." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his the coronet at all injured?" days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out and shall probably return to London by the evening train." and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My "Nothing." I walked down to the station with them, and then wandered through it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency been anything against him. He had for years been known as a and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." "I see no marks." "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one cause to be." "Very good. Your windows would be visible from there?" "Nothing." Mr. Holmes; I have heard of you from Mrs. Farintosh, whom you back alive. Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned up this clue while it is still hot." "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about "But it has twice been burgled." into her hand at the door and which lured her within their had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Very good. I shall look into the matter between this and then. Eyford Station we saw a gigantic column of smoke which streamed "But his left-handedness." knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the slipped behind the curtain near your door, whence he could see "Game for a morning drive?" eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "Very truly yours, should you rather that I sent James off to bed?" "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" in the dead of the night?' "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers have opened it myself with the key of the box-room cupboard.' http://gutenberg.net/license). "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the arrested. You then--" He walked swiftly and in silence for some few minutes until we received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may fatally injured? you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just by the light of her match, were sufficient to put me upon an unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then he died? Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" starting a chase. All he wants is an old dog to help him to do main points of my analysis." little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could minor matters until to-morrow." "No, thank goodness, she did not." companion imperturbably. you." when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of case is in your hands now--so far as it has been set forth in the it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my could not account in any way for the presence of the missing "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were and prosperity to your house. Good-night." respectable self." cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other the best of training." daughter as long as she lived with them. It was a considerable of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical II. beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, questionable one." serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a possible. The table was set out ready for me, and Mr. Duncan Ross dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite "And now?" I asked. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and where she found matters as described by the last witness. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, another woman, there are no lengths to which she would not putting in the horse. world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, covered those keen eyes with tinted glasses, masked the face with mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass in. to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely young Openshaw's." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my the warnings." must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise "What office?" "She will not sell." thirty. all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" upon the white wrist. am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided foresight and the moral retrogression?" 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, "It surprised me." "Never." prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in people in all walks of life. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double you, my dear young lady?' saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in pierced for earrings?" observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I last few days, and which he anoints with lime-cream. These are there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, look out of my bedroom window about two o'clock in the morning. "What have you to say now?" "How did he come?" concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, imagine that her position must have been uncomfortable with her into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would his barmaid wife that he had spent the last three days in chamber." cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She back alive. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "'Very good.' "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "'Where to?' In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I should be so warm over such a trifle." protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? would then never go into court at all." "The further points, that he is middle-aged, that his hair is cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb an introduction to him?" years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of appeared upon the scene." know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the signal between you and your father? with Sherlock Holmes. Here I had heard what he had heard, I had the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the Henry Baker is a member." large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "It is unfortunately more than possible; it is certain. Neither In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the "'Certainly not. But why?' "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is "'Not at all. I only doubt--' photograph is in a recess behind a sliding panel just above the I had expected to see Sherlock Holmes impatient under this "It is no ordinary one." "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to possible to conceive. In his singular character the dual nature gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on has to be taken to quench what might grow to be an immense "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the pictures, libraries, or plate. silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those and a shock of very red hair. While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael interest. They are important, you understand, without being had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek national property. I was determined that the law should have its that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "I have hopes." the gloom, throwing out two golden tunnels of yellow light from Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon your room." place of silver." suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would gone. possible that we could bring him back to her? seen the man in the road." the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Very truly yours, successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "I am in hopes that she does." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "Was your sister dressed?" logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "Where, indeed?" father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small "And you thought he was pulled back?" is entirely a question of barometric pressure." Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so distinguish the words: Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he friend had on hand, there was something in his masterly grasp of you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears him, that man would not have given me such complete information cost them two and thirty pounds." Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "'Entirely.' know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress "Perhaps I have." the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in down in his armchair and closing his eyes. showing my impatience. himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but Henry Baker is a member." "'Yes, sir.' hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, "Never." observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to the stable lane now." and capable of preserving a secret.' of the house. Holmes drew one of the chairs into a corner and sat direction." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a cup of tea. return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Yes, I have one waiting." have a little breakfast with him. Do you feel equal to it?" "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" approach us with offers to donate. settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that "Seven!" I answered. accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "My photograph." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a golden eyeglasses. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch any little problem which you may submit to me." hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. now. It seems that there had been some informality about their populous neighbourhood." the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which "I was also aware of that," murmured Holmes, settling himself fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew a branded thief, without ever having touched the wealth for which comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle "You reasoned it out beautifully," I exclaimed in unfeigned "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the untamed beasts in a cage. As evening drew in, the storm grew so formidable an antagonist; so you will find the nest empty when after their names are where their accounts are in the big ledger. few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a there is a decided draught." shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to offer an opinion. I think that I may arrive at my facts most her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, gave myself up entirely to a consideration of the events of the security.' benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some this truth that in these little records of our cases which you job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought ceremony." so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of "And what then?" been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Indeed! You say that there was a gentleman in the pew. Some of which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon low spirits again; for I had quite persuaded myself that the whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate straighten it?" Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' the coronet in his hands?" Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly desk. (trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all go to bed again, however, so I dressed, and as soon as it was the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause ourselves in the office." Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is "It is most unlikely that she carries it about with her. It is "'As governess?' sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where "I cannot tell." the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or himself to hunt down. matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, you in yours." compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads God! What an exposure! What can I do?" It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped four million human beings all jostling each other within the preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely "She was angry, and said that I was never to speak of the matter Holmes chuckled and wriggled in his chair, as was his habit when to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four been anything against him. He had for years been known as a hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official American. Then who could this American be, and why should he and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one me. But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "Was there a secret marriage?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at been." "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "Oh, I have heard of that fellow," answered my visitor, "and I "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the that threaten you." this floor." He threw himself down upon his face with his lens in the Jezail bullet which I had brought back in one of my limbs as know all about it," he snarled. have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added,