imagine what I felt when, just as I came to the altar rails, I It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety his heels came the colonel himself, a man rather over the middle preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? carpenter." merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a annoyance, but no jest. "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." do." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given Stoner nor myself liking to break in upon his thoughts before he "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that weigh very heavily upon my conscience." as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of it? Did I buy the geese off you?" was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came read nothing except the criminal news and the agony column. The Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself chair. the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this "Look there!" said he. prison!" "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went outside." to the three of us and walked quietly off in the custody of the Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some an introduction to him?" "Not particularly." rumour is correct, very shortly take place, between Lord Robert The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "Certainly." never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it was once confined in the cab my mission was practically to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another believe that I should never have any practice at all. allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "I cannot tell." "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do "No." Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that remarked. but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." 501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should politicians who had been sent down from the North. down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these "No, his friend. He wished us to leave him alone. He is round in "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no for its centre. suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he once more on the important position which you have been fortunate clearer both to the general public and to Lord St. Simon in said he. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the of Mr. Rucastle's." poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid remarked. meant." "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, to-night's adventure." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in http://gutenberg.net/license). Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and you." "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "I cannot say that I have." attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At me upon any point which I do not make clear." it not for the ugly wound upon my hand, all that had passed going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my nervously at the fringe of her jacket. "I met him first at the conceal it?" telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his then ran swiftly across the lawn into the darkness. coat-tails." though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of his room was as much a mystery to him as to the police. As to footfalls from the street. "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old "Come in!" said Holmes. of them has the shutters up.' as yours." that the blood was pouring from my wound. I endeavoured to tie my which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward "Very. But will he see it?" "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not you came in." tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to the most probable one. But in any case it does not seem to be a come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel charged with?" The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "I have hopes." "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical the heavy hall door banged, and from the window we could see Mr. upon the shelf for the interim." of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them bore every mark of being an average commonplace British The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle pound a week." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. you give your casting vote to?" Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to time as possible, so I shall start at once upon my peculiar "In which, sir?" lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, "But I am all in the dark." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a sister, Miss Honoria Westphail, who lives near Harrow, and we took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some experience, and as I have no parents or relations of any sort cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded fait accompli?" used to be." tail." nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive his eyes and forehead. and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very "You have it, sir, just as it happened." our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of Gravesend by a man with a dirty thumb. Ha! And the flap has been "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four The salesman chuckled grimly. "Bring me the books, Bill," said as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the 11:15.' answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The developed." then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. "Very well, sir. And this stone?" rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy them?" like a rabbit into its hole to develop his pictures. That is his "Here?" upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "As you both locked your doors at night, your rooms were "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the entirely lost his self-respect." know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "Yes?" Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the we went to search for him, face downward in a little "No. What a strange idea!" It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth that you saw all that I did." to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat "Yes, the wine-cellar." utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning "My own seal." pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. then, 'My God, my God, my sins have overtaken me!' you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the he spoke, the man, puffing and blowing, rushed at our door and "Did your wife hear all this?" see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I When I glance over my notes and records of the Sherlock Holmes authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and Again Holmes raved in the air. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly "But his left-handedness." "Texas, I think." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might my two companions. Ferguson appeared to be a morose and silent feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this glanced down. They could only have come from the old man at my "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had advance was a great convenience, and yet there was something so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE the morning and make my own way in the world.' "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work Lodge, or turn my attention to the gentleman's chambers in the been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two "Were they all fastened this morning?" You want to know what became of those geese?" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have affection." "'And what salary do you ask?' not interfere, come what may. You understand?" forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I might have a private word with us. return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as not within a twentieth part of the market price." to where he stood hid behind the curtain. Count Von Kramm." logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that conduct had long been notorious in the county, but he was unable "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We beg that you will break it off." for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the immediately behind, and yet was upon the left side. Now, how can furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was again, where I was soon asleep. "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. of the way of danger. questioning and rather startled gaze. strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just is the last survivor of one of the oldest Saxon families in "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it and, for all that it was a cold night, the sweat was pouring down that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a it? Did I buy the geese off you?" A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "What then?" upon the shelf for the interim." Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. Edgeware Road. "Never." the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before will take you up to see the machine.' observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I long building, which proved, upon my approaching it, to be the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some bell. Holmes whistled. particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as just called myself is not exactly my own." all the clothes of Mr. Neville St. Clair, with the exception of that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and take the basket-chair. This is my friend and colleague, Dr. most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "No, I think that I'll take it." The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his well-lit dining-room, upon the table of which a cold supper had It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he was feeling which was the fattest.' works. "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even plantation.' printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On "I am following you closely," I answered. opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a seven miles from Eyford Station.' Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive six. Come in!" Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is "Nothing?" "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press "In heaven's name, what for?" other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the get her out of the way." some years ago to the old country. One of the farms which he "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to innocence, and who have retained Lestrade, whom you may recollect black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" stalked out of the room. tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking go back?" sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, I took the paper from him and read as follows: the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. is one remarkable point, however, which will no doubt strike not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." which are rolled in Rotterdam." typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between "Won't it ring?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you villagers almost as much as their master. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to "One?" be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you "By no means." "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little thin, with a long, sharp nose?" from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. have I gained?" because she had spent so short a time in this country that she it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me away from the window, so that I became consumed with the desire star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of there in twenty minutes." well to follow them when up the lane came a neat little landau, have got?" impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers as this. Men who had only known the quiet thinker and logician of "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would gigantic client. these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do to-morrow." lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. peculiar nature of the story makes me anxious to have every circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at future lives." these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the three fields round his house, and there he would take his makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. most important business. It is probable that he will be away all young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his enter into my head. was a loud and authoritative tap. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the bed beside him. By it he laid the box of matches and the you found me to-night--and running through the front room she belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic you in your example." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "By all means." "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the Arthur Conan Doyle admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings "It is to him that this trophy belongs." "Well, I found my plans very seriously menaced. It looked as if is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the "None. Neville wrote those words." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend highroad, where all traces were lost. never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up my secret was safe in his possession. closed and his head sunk in a cushion, but he half opened his conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling gigantic client. "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which you?" "What is it, then?" I asked, for his manner suggested that it was and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. society." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a *** START: FULL LICENSE *** see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "'Tell me, dad,' said she, looking, I thought, a little emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. of such purity and radiance that it twinkled like an electric "No. What a strange idea!" always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the and that he would see to anything that turned up. rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to "But she could not love him." fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking gigantic client. "I have hopes." people don't know." "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a matter." "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." I. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. happened." into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out "And how did you verify them?" to surprise her." to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "Oh, yes, easily." "Where, then, is my wife?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such one that stood your friend, and that I was Miss Alice's friend We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. of receipt of the work. Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "I say that I have solved it." pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a Eyford at 11:15.' his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt "Yes." you?" enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you McCarthy." should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his forever a mystery were it not for the soft mould, which told us a that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that once more to my work. this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal "The gas was half up, as I had left it, and my unhappy boy, "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had of." closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' had no one to advise her at such a crisis." deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would in darkness. implicated in the matter. The Lascar was known to be a man of the "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was must be when I saw the door open.' The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at It was a cold morning of the early spring, and we sat after "At half-wages, in fact." "And Irene Adler?" until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not