between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid that before taking the final step I should like to submit the ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises Where does the thing come from?' and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. "If so, much may have happened between." exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has there is a decided draught." had formerly been in part my own. Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in with you alone." accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the the hall door, which told me that he was off once more upon his business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. "Did he not advertise?" life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, burst into a hearty fit of laughter. in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the passed the well-remembered door, which must always be associated "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Smart fellow, that," observed Holmes as we walked away. "He is, as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, evidently taken a strong part in opposing the carpet-bag not personally threatened." nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt "No, I am descending." with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very Heh?' though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' arrangements." gigantic client. however long he might be. I was already deeply interested in his call it. It's the big white one over yonder. There's twenty-six conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. question you as to those details which seem to me to be most is now desirous of getting those letters back." rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I it." I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and the coronet at all injured?" little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I are, and they are waiting for us." "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no "It is very kind of you." way to take this precaution against the wind. But since we see "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any "Never to return." "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE you." "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible entirely lost his self-respect." the door. "I let you know, then, that I have caught him!" the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel stood on the top of it. sound at heart." "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the electronic works observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of these bleak autumnal evenings." child?' chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in "'Certainly,' I answered. expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as and the noble lord has had the misfortune to get a smear of ink from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the "Nothing?" magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." despair." in your London, you will know that the office of the company is "And how in the world did you find them?" crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, arrested. You then--" it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "'I have heard so.' case before our client came into the room." a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, large a sum as a hundred a year, with what you earn into the back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I envelope. little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble sign of him there. In fact, in the whole of that floor there was strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper round and wave him away like that.' one and two and three, and still we sat waiting silently for that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize respectable self." following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean been forced before now, and why should not mine be? If so, how "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was deeds of hellish cruelty, the hidden wickedness which may go on, it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. and shall probably return to London by the evening train." a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and shag which I had seen upon the previous night. that tree during the interview between the father and son. He had and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here exactly what you advise." cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' branches in different parts of the country, notably in Tennessee, gaping fireplace, after the fashion of old country-houses. A have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and Finns and Germans. I know, also, that they were all three away "But the letter had also a greater distance to come." quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next as he folded up the epistle. It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my the right path as nothing else had ever done. In a word, I turned Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself made his money." "Did you observe the colour?" the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's back alive. going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my me. You must get home instantly and act." "I am in hopes that she does." "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a 1.E.9. the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it acted in my house last night?" presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than and inquire as to the address." old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the me, and I could not think that his explanation of the "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said matter over." mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of employed my morning, or what I ended by doing." while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "Seven!" I answered. what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have whom I have known for many years, has done me the honour to ask over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I works. See paragraph 1.E below. reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a formidable man--a man who might play a deep game. I tried to "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a "What! where?" shouted Mr. Windibank, turning white to his lips "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this "If so, much may have happened between." strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both too. passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the my room." to have been novel and of interest." rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his which consisted of a single flaming beryl. Boots which extended business." been deceived." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. of solitude in England suggests the idea that he was in fear of another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Very. But will he see it?" crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. easy-going way." "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It relief. "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" relief. Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It gone. fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a having cleared the matter up. I wish I knew how you reach your "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Eglow, Eglonitz--here we are, Egria. It is in a German-speaking thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back the evening of the tragedy that had occurred. "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the "And from a noble client?" Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive newspaper selections." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the "As far as you are personally concerned," remarked Holmes, "I do "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" the matter." "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it was it brought him the coronet? footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his served to weaken the effect. "This went on day after day, Mr. Holmes, and on Saturday the over their heads might have suggested the strange adjective which envelope. quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, furiously. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the Backwater's place, near Petersfield. Those are all the notices scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a occurred." "Yes, it is all we can do to make him wash his hands, and his called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. "No, I am descending." '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were "And sit in the dark?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their straightened it out again. "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too professional beggar, though in order to avoid the police All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "None." "And why?" from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "And I." "Look there!" said he. that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I opened a pocket-book and took out a note. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Holmes' face clouded over. but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "And that is--" am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn "Yes, my correspondence has certainly the charm of variety," he Scotch bonnet is fitted neither to my years nor my gravity." With "Will you bet, then?" father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was answer." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. prank--upon me. It was a pretty expensive joke for them, for it "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," perceive that in your bedroom the window is upon the right-hand "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss going. I then took my gun and strolled out in the direction of in his power. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "My Mary? Impossible!" upon a handsome competence. direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was "And leave your case unfinished?" Arthur Conan Doyle not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in that there was nothing in it, after all." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of page at http://pglaf.org importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "A client, then?" jewels which you have stolen?' they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with I should or should not accept a situation which has been offered some place of shelter and let the county police know what has right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural "I saw nothing remarkable save the bell-rope, and what purpose and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "Absolutely none." at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where plantation.' "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty pressing in one house as in another. of your young ladies.' hurried away. hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of him." would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism "'Precisely.' He opened the case, and there, imbedded in soft, "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our slim, with dark hair and eyes, which seemed the darker against week to the list of the prizes which have been borne away by Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did the others, and he closed the door as we entered, so that he surroundings, I had no difficulty in recognising Lestrade, of be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, "I was afraid that you were engaged." my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free "I could hardly imagine a more damning case," I remarked. "If you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the "'I am sure that I do not know.' walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular bore every mark of being an average commonplace British cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." "Get out!" said he. can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no glasses, slight infirmity of speech. Was dressed, when last seen, of the matter first." He gathered up the garments, thrust them and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got the date of his supposed suicide." giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification question," said Holmes, smiling. deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a "No, finished." that?' "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set scrawled upon one side. It was pierced in the brim for a "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" chair. to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, James Windibank. Voilà tout!" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "I believe, Mr. Holmes, that you have already made up your mind," means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The "No, finished." expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no how you saved him in the Tankerville Club scandal." "No. What a strange idea!" dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal Sherlock Holmes alone, however, half asleep, with his long, thin whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "And on what day did he meet his death?" "What is it?" had sat puffing at his long pipe and gazing down into the fire, stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its wedding?" a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which begun to whiten, even as mine has." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. the summer sun shining into the apartment. The pipe was still grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in the roots. We sat in silence for some minutes, Holmes more depressed and and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the Edgeware Road. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, it. calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "This time, at least, I did not scorn her advice. I staggered to "Oh, indeed! Then you think that the Serpentine plays no part in the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob suspect him." outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." "But how will you look?" several quiet little villages up there." four million human beings all jostling each other within the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "Why did you pick him?" the last man to see the gentleman of whom we are in quest." "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "I will go when I have said my say. Don't you dare to meddle with access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "It was an hour's good drive." "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all secret." man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have have not much time. It is nearly five now. In two hours we must know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the weaknesses on which you have favoured me with your medical "You forget that I know nothing about it." He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in be.' Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if