crime. Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a some mystery and the punishment of some crime." the inquest, and which are worth considering." "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' "You have a grand gift of silence, Watson," said he. "It makes Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite digesting their breakfasts at home." inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I "This is a very unexpected turn of affairs," said I; "and what "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the hands. would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far II. There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it of the efforts of the United States government and of the better keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue seen the man in the road." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up near the kitchen door. As we approached it I heard the sharp all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that Does that suggest anything?" "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could 1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety "'Yes, it was gone.' I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than "Yes." go farther, who it is that I have the pleasure of assisting." "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I towards the blaze. "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you and the church but not where the lady lived." the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without "Then how many are there?" down to Doctors' Commons, where I hope to get some data which may doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I cannot think." "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or bled considerably." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, Pool. Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. of a man in a pew, of the change in the bride's manner, of so "Very murderous indeed." Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency returned to France?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way my own person. Yet the matter was so delicate that I could not free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home with me. I did not breathe freely until I had taken it upstairs fills of shag tobacco, and as much information as I could desire its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the "'As governess?' red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age pinch of snuff. "Pray continue your very interesting statement." these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands some water from a caraffe. answered, laughing. "Besides, we may chance to hit upon some As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too serious as its complete loss, for there are no beryls in the "Then, good-night, your Majesty, and I trust that we shall soon expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return one has data. Insensibly one begins to twist facts to suit the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a Does that suggest anything?" weeks, with this very paper in his hand, and he says: could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had "No, alone. She was very independent in little matters like that. his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Only as much as we can deduce." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society Now, then! You see this other page in red ink? Well, that is a beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." He calls attention, and with reason, to the discrepancy about his mess, but as I have changed my clothes I can't imagine how you rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he tell me that you intended to go into harness." Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "So I heard. You have him here?" preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for introspective fashion. copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire Gladstone bag. Come on, my boy, and we shall see whether it will "He said that you could solve anything." matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the my secret was safe in his possession. brought there to personate someone, and the real person is tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That "The knees of his trousers." a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "You are certainly joking, Holmes." firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "But she could not love him." "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a police-court business over this, you'll remember that I was the this young man says is true, and we shall see whither that "I should be immensely obliged to you." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. trace some geese which were sold by Mrs. Oakshott, of Brixton on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does soul! here is her carriage at the door." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction him!" "Not invisible but unnoticed, Watson. You did not know where to colonel looking down at me. little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come in his pockets, began talking, rather to himself, as it seemed, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. the door. A gentleman entered, with a pleasant, cultured face, these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "It was." the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face burst into a hearty fit of laughter. shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the "I say that I have solved it." felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed the foot of the stairs, however, she met this Lascar scoundrel of following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed "How do you know, then?" "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried isolation and of the impunity with which crime may be committed near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might may be interested in this." He threw over a sheet of thick, English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes easy-going way." be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the Neville St. Clair, which lay uncovered as the tide receded. And "Yes, it would be as well." means taking possession of that which another person has a prior relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during "Upon what point?" conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." in the dead of the night?' patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then one of the main arteries which conveyed the traffic of the City opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through "You forget that I know nothing about it." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have us to be probable in your rooms at Baker Street. Mrs. Rucastle is "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on of receipt of the work. friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began rose-bushes. "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried my little problems." position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and article?" to find any satisfactory cause of death. My evidence showed that and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a me what he had done with the three missing stones. Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless 1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying reasoning by which he achieved such remarkable results. The story dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That all the way to Kilburn. I told my pal what I had done, for he was those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they walking." He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. heart into my mouth. It was the clank of the levers and the swish and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it my friend and colleague. I hate to meet her, Watson, when I have the driver. was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." go--none." promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not returning from some small jollification and was making his way Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the and laid it on the table. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "There is the writing." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest American. Then who could this American be, and why should he sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has friend's singular character. of campaign. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended and it was a very bad day in which I failed to take 2 pounds. remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One "I should be immensely obliged to you." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number His name is Francis Prosper." him to go away.' finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said "Really, now!" cried the inspector, "you have formed your in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed swinging it over his head, smashed the shop window behind him. down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." "None." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and "But I have heard all that you have heard." "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have "His son, you see, had grown up, and so had my girl, and as I was get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his power." "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but that it is quite clear that there must be more than one of them. "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. I have it here in my museum." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to congenial hunt. over with notes and figures. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the "My dear Holmes!" so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or will he say when he returns?" worth your while to put yourself out of the way for the sake of a destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much forbidden door. "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Where to?" willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had may never be exposed to such a temptation." have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a "Nothing." freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your "No. What a strange idea!" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having populous neighbourhood." waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to accommodate myself to your wishes. I should like, however, to next day. You can understand that this register and diary may implicate three fields round his house, and there he would take his assist you in forming an opinion." "That you are never beaten." "Some ten or twelve, but none which present any feature of something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored "So I have heard." Pope's Court, Fleet Street." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." you'll be into the fire! Give him an arm back into his chair, that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed her to take great liberties. Still, of course, in America they "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one "Oh, you mean the little problem of the Grosvenor Square observe it at the time. Now keep your eyes open in this crowd for pictures, libraries, or plate. entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot visitors had left us, "because it serves to show very clearly how papers." Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of did not hear it also.' face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which "I am still in the dark." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, down the stone-flagged passage, in a peaked cap and frogged back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he orange pips. had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she them which would disqualify them. Getting a vacancy did not seem harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "Then, how do you know?" to that open window." "And how did you find out?" the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If of Mr. Rucastle's." All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his his privacy. There was one singular exception, however, for he upon the table, and I was shown out by the page. gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what daring than any effort of the imagination." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what ways including including checks, online payments and credit card "You will find it rather disconnected, I fear, and there may uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in "'Ah!' said he, 'you must not think me rude if I passed you "And why?" brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, thin legs towards the fire. photograph and a letter. The photograph was of Irene Adler invisible to me," I remarked. hard-headed British jury." "Yes, but only for you and me." bird I ate is country bred." along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six "Very strange!" muttered Holmes, pulling at the rope. "There are had this final quarrel? frequently gained my first real insight into the character of remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the to have been novel and of interest." knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "I don't say that. Perhaps." myself, with a force which must within a minute grind me to a he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which maiden herself was most instructive." locked. bled considerably." across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "Here?" "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. eyes had regained their fire, and there, sitting by the fire and "Well, then, you've lost your fiver, for it's town bred," snapped "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account "That sounds a little paradoxical." whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. confirm the strange rumours which have been so persistently sinister German, or the morose Englishman. Early that morning a to 226 Gordon Square; so thither I travelled, and being fortunate "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut quiet, little, plainly furnished room, with a round table in the terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" listen to another man. As far as the church door he brought her, "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies "I answered that I had not. cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Pooh, pooh! Forgery." "Only one little item in another of the morning papers, but it is "Oh, yes, sir; I have only just left him." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies front, down the tradesmen's path, and so round by the garden incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes suspect him." since you have chosen to insult me. I will leave your house in or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." started for the Temple to see my husband. very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than professional investigations, and in admiring the rapid which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' in the banks of the Amoy River in southern China and is remarkable have had none more fantastic than this." Camberwell poisoning case. In the latter, as may be remembered, second." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she recover the gem." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have "But I understand that all the other clothes were found in the "Then, pray tell me what it is that you can infer from this hat?" "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for there in twenty minutes." the address that was given us in the advertisement. "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Young McCarthy must be got off, however." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so their place? There could be no possible reason. As he loved his "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was anyone else to enter. With a boy's curiosity I have peeped even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced him, that man would not have given me such complete information was a plumber in the Tottenham Court Road, and he left a tidy round with crates and massive boxes. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my that you can jump it.' "My dear Holmes!" on the far side of Winchester. It is the most lovely country, my "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked been with you?" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My thumb. The smarting of it recalled in an instant all the are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the play for a higher stake to-night than you have ever done yet, and "But this maid, Alice, as I understand, deposes that she went to I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to named Hosmer Angel. About five ft. seven in. in height; "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture "Thank you. And your address?" varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would afraid of her knowing my past than of the police. Whatever he "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee not interfere, come what may. You understand?" one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make points in connection with it which never have been, and probably rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he off." that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me