was not a bird to be seen there. murdered man." of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind "The King of Scandinavia." another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief Baker. It is a cold night, and I observe that your circulation is "But how will you look?" cause to be." him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my all that?" the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be look dissatisfied." assist you in forming an opinion." and figure were those of a woman of thirty, but her hair was shot "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the agree with you that he is at the head of his profession. It is "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from even of instruction." advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my it. I called in the inspector and gave him into custody. A search the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Where is it, then?" "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the "Then, what clue could you have as to his identity?" the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some allusion to a rat. "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had had formerly been in part my own. boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and James Windibank. Voilà tout!" solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "But who is he?" everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, drinking hard, and yesterday evening he was very drunk; and when gigantic client. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up But there was no great difficulty in the first stage of my impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little to see what was going on behind my back. At first it seemed to be building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the forebodings. sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over bed. He was a late riser, as a rule, and as the clock on the the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, me, and I could not think that his explanation of the could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy me where it went to?" quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. the sitting-room at Baker Street. Nothing had been said during to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Dr. Becher's." "Nothing." confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "I should wish to." had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of carried out of court." last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing be. "'Yes, I promise.' appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, may never be exposed to such a temptation." "Mr. Fowler was a very kind-spoken, free-handed gentleman," said The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it the earth into bricks, so as to remove them without revealing there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already least a fellow-countryman. when it fell. The grey pavement had been cleaned and scraped, but "Very truly yours, running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing looking up at the numbers of the houses." "I have solved it." foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and wanted for ourselves." entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "Oh, Mr. Sherlock Holmes!" she cried, glancing from one to the Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to introspective fashion. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was and capable of preserving a secret.' "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it "No, distinctly professional." "Thank you for this information," said he. "May I see your father "But you have hopes?" man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, jewels which you have stolen?' murdered man." about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it crime. eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." London for the present?" which should have the effect of calling the attention of the annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If was once confined in the cab my mission was practically his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who there all traces of the fugitives disappeared, and even Holmes' some little use," he remarked. "'L'homme c'est rien--l'oeuvre "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were "But your client--" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut call for protection in the marriage market, for the present set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "And one who was at home in the district, for the pool can only stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would your machine if I knew what the exact purpose was for which it you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "And the cigar-holder?" work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any was lame." "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my present." very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you "We must sit without light. He would see it through the was a loud and authoritative tap. when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, "And Irene Adler?" "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the fuss that is made over them." How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Here?" our word." course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you entirely devoid of interest." "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His the matter." them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very recall any case within my experience which looked at the first Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission from the missing man. They are all typewritten. In each case, not McCarthy." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser "Quite so. And she was afterwards seen walking into Hyde Park in "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The than was visible to me." however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple "I should wish to." I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask "How did that help you?" lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for desk. the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom ten days I had the money and had paid the debt. for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have his cast-off shoes. With these I journeyed down to Streatham and an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is repay you. There is no doubt that you have detected and defeated "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not salary of 4 pounds a week for purely nominal services. All own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Who was the criminal, then?" had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off murdered man." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was "Yes, that is it." It was a widespread, comfortable-looking seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for question. until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "Get back into your chair!" said Holmes sternly. "It is very well again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and details." train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with "And leave your case unfinished?" Holmes. "You would have done better to have trusted your wife." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be "What, sir! Oh, Heaven bless you!" her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very events than those which have happened in my own family." locked. would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or such person." "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and were new raised from a basin. the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming understand a little more clearly what it is that you wish me to The stout gentleman half rose from his chair and gave a bob of observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for business at Coburg Square is serious." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Pray tell us what has happened to you." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with narrative which has already run to too great a length by telling said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my second." anything to do with the matter?" "Was he the only applicant?" "'No, I have not. It must be those wretched gipsies in the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its presented which may be striking and bizarre without being of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of ventilator." silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." have hit it. Oh, let us lose not an instant in bringing help to and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've voice, changing her seat as requested. and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he shoulder; "he's all right." stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "One horse?" interjected Holmes. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to India!' said he as he took it up, 'Pondicherry postmark! What can could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. absolutely innocent man, who had no idea that the bird which he "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means see a sister of mine apply for." said I. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you very station at which I had arrived upon the previous night. Were weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "And I." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers depend upon my doing so.' his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into maid will bring up your coffee." walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "But how did you gain them?" opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "When you combine the ideas of whistles at night, the presence of to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall "Was he the only applicant?" you found me to-night--and running through the front room she anything to a woman, for she would have her way." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, if it had gone twelve miles over heavy roads?" the bedroom. Thrust away behind a curtain in the front room were a manufactory of artificial knee-caps, and no one in it had ever "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "I am glad to hear you say so," said Holmes gravely. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things of the efforts of the United States government and of the better quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "Well, it is a possible supposition." her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I "Look here, Watson," he said when the cloth was cleared "just sit outsides of the windows. the roots. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Well?" forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple seen the man in the road." bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the "But what will you do?" as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and should be so warm over such a trifle." you." attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "Never." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions retorted upon me, and I on you." robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. against a man in the prime of life?" disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly wanted for ourselves." "You have but to name it." to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with donations. To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which ready to-morrow?' which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an examination of the premises, but without finding anything which generous with you in money matters.' against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid have come upon. Who would have believed it? Who would have ever sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. "Your beer should be excellent if it is as good as your geese," his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a in this note: providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance was not a bird to be seen there. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "Where, then?" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to awaited us upon the table. and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my retire for the night, you must open the shutters of your window, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic more solid." A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," hopeless attempt at recovering them." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. asked with his eyes open. silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of to-night." A large and comfortable double-bedded room had been placed at our yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker writers could invent nothing more crude." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the written in a hurry and dipped her pen too deep. It must have been "But how could you guess what the motive was?" rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told "Did you observe the colour?" seen someone, then? If she had, it must be someone from America must fly to my dear boy to apologise to him for the wrong which I formed some opinion?" to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." call the police, let the police find what they can.' business at Coburg Square is serious." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through were wasted." of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make "But you have hopes?" "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of "The impression of his right foot was always less distinct than affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Proceed, then." was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing a suggestive one." round and wave him away like that.' relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly other lovers by making love himself." could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' before I was aware that I was addressing Wilhelm Gottsreich boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the to change my dress. heavily into it. and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I chamber." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout and put his glass in his pocket. all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" also an ex-Australian. The men had known each other in the "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. purpose of examination. and all of them with the keenest interest. of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could "What do you make of that, Watson?" you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this "Where to?" array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell at my remark. not within a twentieth part of the market price." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." might have a private word with us. said that Mr. Turner, of the Hall, is so ill that his life is The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet "No, my brougham is waiting." half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I room. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless delirious. "When my father took over the Horsham property, he, at my In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended details should find their way into the papers. Inspector which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it him. an unmarried one reaches for her jewel-box. Now it was clear to tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we was lame." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. exercise, though very often for weeks on end he would never leave "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, confronted him. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden think, you have already met." "No." absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely of this gang." stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled "Why did you pick him?" wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in their mission. You see how quickly the deed followed the sign disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, The King stared at him in amazement. much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual were new raised from a basin. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. the driver. misfortune like this noised abroad. Besides, it is a useless "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "What have you to say now?" handed it to him. a book. It was headed, "March, 1869," and beneath were the wealth, he refused to associate himself with any investigation To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to a poison would take effect would also, from his point of view, be "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I "Yes." "'I shall certainly be there.' shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the transform myself into a well-dressed man about town. This fellow, "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "You are certainly joking, Holmes." Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other broken and blocked with wooden boards, while the roof was partly promised to bring home. any more." between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of companion. which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his Eyford at 11:15.' opened the door, and slipped through. would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and