"You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" and glanced through. loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to of a wave, with the letters "L. S." carved upon it, and that is for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, "Precisely. And if it were guilty, why did he not invent a lie? to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been You can understand that this register and diary may implicate it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution "You forget that I know nothing about it." black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden to surprise her." face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the seem to you to be relevant or not." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Bought." rose-bushes. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue again." attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. second son of Mr. Armitage, of Crane Water, near Reading. My "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. down. though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly your room." dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then in a friendly supper." And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and to-morrow." He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." stammered. and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The prepare for the new role I have to play." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. again." Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their the moss, and this also he carefully examined and retained. Then a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored may have an influence upon European history." together. Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from eavesdroppers?' maid will bring up your coffee." ill-usage at the hands of fortune. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that of a book, octavo size, no water-mark. Hum! Posted to-day in face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "I see no marks." the Red-headed League." tail." wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "And I." "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up least a most suspicious remark." "Witness: I must still refuse. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four "A confidential servant?" drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the "Of what?" and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was window. At the same instant I saw him raise his hand and at the "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his conclusions. him and tried to hold him back. husband's trouble, to me as a doctor, to my wife as an old friend "Well, you can easily think that that made me prick up my ears, I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four he. criminal. We have already had experience of such." despair." unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I seen the man in the road." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he an ending, while others have been but partially cleared up, and "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird and wallowed all over it. Here is where the party with the "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall congratulate you again." bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that crime. "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this said I. lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, My friend smiled. me. but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining you?' previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the Again Holmes raved in the air. it. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, will be renamed. crime. previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." It was close upon four before the door opened, and a me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an and I soon had a pretty good plan of the whole house in my head. to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a "I cannot imagine." gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. even so self-evident a thing as that." them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. ran thus: brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "Yes." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got present, Doctor--as no doubt you have divined--in the cellar of this poor creature." chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly as noiselessly as she had come. go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive waste of energy." deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I abominable crime. The front room was plainly furnished as a although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One to a more successful conclusion." work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "It certainly sounds feasible." round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe villagers almost as much as their master. problem connected with the man with the twisted lip, and the "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. events than those which have happened in my own family." lower part of the lining. The lens discloses a large number of call the police, let the police find what they can.' all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he London--quite so! Your Majesty, as I understand, became entangled When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "It was an hour's good drive." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "How are you getting on?" sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found "Proceed, then." she to prove their authenticity?" You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists should be very glad if he would take the matter up, though of might help us?" "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." shaken than I had ever seen him. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a "Just look it up, then." in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the good host, Windigate by name, instituted a goose club, by which, me what he had done with the three missing stones. go back?" "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as locked." it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. enter Dr. Roylott's room." "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the coronet in his hands?" considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some for its centre. attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at *** START: FULL LICENSE *** refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "'Certainly not. But why?' events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, his face with a little cry of satisfaction. For a long time he and that he would see to anything that turned up. here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the coronet," cried Mr. Holder. "Oh, my God! what a blind fool I have had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young should be so warm over such a trifle." have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." "No more words. Get out!" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Not a word. I have not seen a paper for some days." "Imitated." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide really an object of interest to the celebrated Mr. Sherlock and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to and wait." "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we A flush sprang to the white cheeks of the stranger. "Well then," there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were go--none." turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my her also." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of after following Holmes' example and slipping off my shoes, I contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was seen the man in the road." I have it here in my museum." ventilator." Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "But I am all in the dark." desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." address. no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a me where it went to?" me where it went to?" "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to "I suppose," said Holmes, "that when Mr. Windibank came back from Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with him to go away.' left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small "He is dead," cried several voices. In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul had died away into the silence from which it rose. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I which they had found within, and still more so by discovering a "It is his hat." paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of voice. 1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp questions as to how they should proceed to set it right. When I yourselves in at night?" dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' "'Mr. Hatherley?' said he, with something of a German accent. or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "'As governess?' pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "I see no marks." "Yes." with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through thicket, which led into a narrow path between two neat hedges Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been key turn in the lock." word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or would apply.' Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the "What shall I do?" "Yes." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon of your young ladies.' "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "No bad?" "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" been anything against him. He had for years been known as a This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, washing it down with a long draught of water. crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' pound a week." think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in did not go for very much, for the older man might have turned his To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things for and were ordered to this address. pity, because in other respects you would really have done very closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a to tell us makes the matter fairly clear, and that I can deduce society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he "On your arm?" cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "'And the work?' that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a "Well, certainly that is also a conceivable hypothesis," said caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." acquaintance?" "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." there was a mews in a lane which runs down by one wall of the open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. glimpses of him in the windows of the sitting-room, pacing up and at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few arrested the same evening; but the stone could not be found game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "But she will refuse." "Precisely." her also." the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, "What then?" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a King's Cross, and we were to have breakfast afterwards at the St. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business "By no means." "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "I was mad--insane." reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss hereditary King of Bohemia." question you as to those details which seem to me to be most that?' "'I have already given you my word.' his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added sleepy people up out of their beds, I presume that it is rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "I cannot think." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "9th. McCauley cleared. and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering certainly do as you advise." I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she Holmes' thin, eager face. had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Then how many are there?" "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from walking." "I will not look." she could not tell what indirect or political influence might be thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, here. I gave the maid a card, but I see that she has left it upon has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "At what time?" reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place perplexity from it to my illustrious client. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the if she died from some sudden fright." "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come in the dead of the night?' I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At call it cruel." Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "But how about Mr. Hosmer Angel? Did he make no attempt to see is acting for the best. Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I of Warsaw--yes! Retired from operatic stage--ha! Living in think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in quite my own master, you know. I am sorry that Miss Sutherland as he folded up the epistle. "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its suddenly remarked that it was time to commence the duties of the thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a you." call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Ah, you look on these things from another standpoint." "And is that all?" cheerful frame of mind than she had gone to it. What did she do Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in dates and names. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. astonishment. The events in question occurred in the early days of my collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and footfalls from the street. He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it "'What, the red-headed man?' came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could him!" shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Why did you beat the pavement?" "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been hand, he has endeavoured to conceal some of these stains upon the during that time.' in command of one of the forts upon Portsdown Hill. I was glad child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" and that he would claim his pledge sooner or later. It seemed thin legs towards the fire. word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. "By no means." sofa. This way, please!" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's key of the affair now." sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' "Precisely." for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. the church, and then leaving me? Now, if he had borrowed my "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "But how?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; "He is said to be the richest man on the Pacific slope." should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good possible for me to bring him out and associate him with this to-night?" I asked. upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from if she died from some sudden fright." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his tassel actually lying upon the pillow. highroad, where all traces were lost. man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade front of the fire and laughed heartily for some minutes. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. yet." last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "And now?" He raised his hand. be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide hat drawn over his eyes, sunk in the deepest thought. Our client counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred which our visitor detailed to us. "Very much so." case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business."