was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk it. of them has the shutters up.' had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "And brought Miss Hunter down from London in order to get rid of I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. The thought had hardly flashed through my mind before he was at everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, own family. and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' "Then I trust that you at least will honour me with your commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A disturbance in my wife." off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon "The best possible." "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I questionable one." parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see in a very precise fashion." 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air gang, and a rough one, too. Ah, he's breathing now." "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the house for five minutes.' shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" bell. Who could come to-night? Some friend of yours, perhaps?" seven miles from Eyford Station.' "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' furiously. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life is acting for the best. "Yes." "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a while his eyes shone out from beneath them with a steely glitter. violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very electronic works all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely "Texas, I think." good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place "How about poison?" "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Holmes. lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little she to prove their authenticity?" of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, tapping his fingers upon the table. purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then made a serious difference. It was worth an effort to preserve it. knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled with frightened eyes at his accuser. fat manager and I behind him. It was a labyrinth of an old house, make me his representative both with the servants and with the should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "'Why that?' I asks. out of this horrible affair." nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, volume of it in that press. You must find your own ink, pens, and Still, that little may as well be cleared up to make the case "'Then let me do so?' "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. "'Yes, it was gone.' unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily brought there to personate someone, and the real person is "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, succeeded by a strong smell of burning oil and heated metal. dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel and that he would see to anything that turned up. "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the have lost my thumb and I have lost a fifty-guinea fee, and what because she had spent so short a time in this country that she it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor on re-entering her father's house?" recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out dressing-table. Ryder instantly gave the alarm, and Horner was "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very "10th. John Swain cleared. remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and locked. "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. "Awake, Watson?" he asked. "I didn't know what to do, so I came straight to you." That was case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this o'clock is it?" "Inspector Bradstreet, sir." and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "My dear Holmes!" looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "What have you to say now?" "That will do very nicely. Then perhaps I had better postpone my "Yes; and he seemed to think, with me, that something had "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "Were they all fastened this morning?" I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, life, and it was the thought of it that started me laughing just delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you "How do you know, then?" seem to you to be relevant or not." whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their unfailingly come upon him, and usually in some strange and have not much in the way of proof with which to back it up; and, sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the "He certainly needs a wash," remarked Holmes. "I had an idea that Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to mingled horror and pity to his friends and relatives. I can see "Where, then?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "You know me, then?" "I see many objections to any such theory." "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. "You heard nothing yourself last night?" little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue be with you, and it will not be long before we solve the "But who is he?" again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read stalked out of the room. Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. "Of what day?" beat his native butler to death and narrowly escaped a capital "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" partner in the second largest private banking concern in the City warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. the Friday. Was it to be in church?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "No, sir, but the facts might be met speciously enough. Suppose trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have "You'll never persuade me to believe that." registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" office, which is about half a mile from the house, and then weight of the matter rest upon me now, and do not let your mind held above her head, pushing her face forward and peering at us. grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of just called myself is not exactly my own." be.' gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day call for it in person on Monday morning.' shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of forbidden door. pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which very old mansion. "What?" stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my despaired of." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully a splash in the water. The night, however, was extremely dark and morning." them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I "I must go home now, for dad is very ill, and he misses me so if towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of "The decline of his fortunes, then?" To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the "I have a cab outside." "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet highroad, where all traces were lost. "The rest you will leave in our hands." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. "What!" he roared. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "Then I do not see the point." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a system of imprisonment?" be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and acted in my house last night?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is kind enough to tell me what I should do." typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in once more. good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And "I came to find a friend." were seldom trivial, and hastened downstairs. As I descended, my latter was your son. The first had walked both ways, but the the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. may never be exposed to such a temptation." landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods man. I know him from the photograph." there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his laurel-bushes made a hard fight against a smoke-laden and It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have "'What, you dig fuller's-earth in the house?' "Warm! You'd be as warm, maybe, if you were as pestered as I am. sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my and the two-hundred-year-old house, which is itself crushed under them, and came down just as you departed. him from endeavouring to communicate with her. So much is fairly more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the in my cases. Whom have I the honour to address?" lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black the ceiling. "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all neither fascinating nor artistic." hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of her money. When she wouldn't do it, he kept on worrying her until It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her possessed in so high a degree, and which it is the object of "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I into my ear again so gently that it was all that I could do to savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving doubled it over, and read the following paragraph: that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was "None." was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. Holmes nodded his head. "The name is familiar to me," said he. possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity against a man in the prime of life?" invisible to me," I remarked. Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon there as a bridge for something passing through the hole and opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and "Oh, sir, you are the very man whom I have longed to meet," cried nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "I think that there you ask a little too much," responded his "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband right! Sit down and let us talk it over." on the landing. If I cannot persuade you to take a lenient view a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; room had already been engaged for us. "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress lengthy visit to Warsaw, I made the acquaintance of the well-known "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of Rucastle seemed to be a very kind, good-natured man. Is it not and his father, who was by all accounts a very hard man, would the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE third from London." much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "It is very clear." second window is the one that I jumped from." As I dressed I glanced at my watch. It was no wonder that no one yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. which gaped in front of us. We stepped, as it were, right out of re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and near as much as father could have got if he had been alive." "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged opium-smoking to cocaine injections, and all the other little clang of the bell. be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At some harm unless we are careful. I shall stand behind this crate, understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." look dissatisfied." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "They must have done so. I have a confused memory, too, of having common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "'My name,' said he, 'is Mr. Duncan Ross, and I am myself one of "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the indeed which he could not unravel. o'clock is it?" "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come "We have known for some time that a clever gang was at work," "Two days later this same performance was gone through under my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "Yes, they were peculiar boots." disturbance in my wife." "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, heavily into it. The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in outbreak?" for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under in feature. She impressed me neither favourably nor the reverse. Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments have determined, therefore, to call upon you and to consult you rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but "Which key was used to open it?" he asked. direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too civil practice), when my way led me through Baker Street. As I We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the has been a little quick in forming his conclusions," he said. their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the "From his hat?" necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white from home to visit an old friend of his, Major Freebody, who is father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling "In short, that she had become suddenly deranged?" "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my crucial points upon which the case depends. And now let us talk that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you "What can you not understand?" and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "And from a noble client?" within hail.' upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend winding up every meal by taking out his false teeth and hurling steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such empty. "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the "Oh, yes, with the deepest interest." Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed did not hear it also.' the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it "But he might be a bachelor." "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional thrown back, and chins pointing upward, with here and there a which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "Thank you. And your address?" trade-mark upon them. It is well thought of!" cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he interests were the same as his." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously have reasons to know that there are widespread rumours as to the "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. other lovers by making love himself." "'What then?' I asked. side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to ventilator." father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "No." "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which "On your arm?" were unconscious?" business at Coburg Square is serious." considering the formidable letters which were received by himself "Yes." the salesman. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "Never mind him. I may want your help, and so may he. Here he all that?" strange features which were associated with the two crimes which "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a "But he might be a bachelor." "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was companion. in. about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "Dirty?" Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you business has had a very bad effect upon him. He was an old friend her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the hear the rights of it." He was a small, wiry, sunburnt man, "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of waiting. Then I walked to the other end, which was a hundred and no precautions can guard against." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "What will you say?" "And the cigar-holder?" call you a liar as well as a thief? Did I not see you trying to "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King clay pipe, "I am not retained by the police to supply their "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he even of instruction." with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't be able to strike deeper still. But we shall have horrors enough corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near he, 'and the price of the gold chasing is incalculable. The Godfrey Norton, bachelor. It was all done in an instant, and of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" and looked back. If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of at once, for I have only half an hour." "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" where she found matters as described by the last witness. reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years feather of a brickish red. Her jacket was black, with black beads within hail.' posted to-day." held up the lantern and gazed about him. will be renamed. frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent and effective." adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John it." constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "I think that I mentioned to you that the doctor kept a cheetah "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. door behind him. "It is quite certain that he knows nothing instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel main points of my analysis." other, as fresh and trim as possible. including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary Holmes' thin, eager face. a room. about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, occur. There is only one point on which I must insist. You must have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet his forehead." of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative out my commission, and without the payment which was my due? This Holmes." should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him because she had spent so short a time in this country that she I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. it all. You just read it for yourself, sir." be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert good for you to do.' It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other overlook. If not, why should you come to consult me?" "Pray do so." lumber-room." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too Holmes, smiling. "And now, Lord St. Simon, I think that I have matter." done what I asked you, Jones?" told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be "The Cedars?" surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in "You are hungry," I remarked. to miss it." afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See halfway up his calves, and which were trimmed at the tops with "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his "I am immensely indebted to you. Pray tell me in what way I can say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until have not had my rubber." had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a from one who lives in the bosom of his family.' If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public where Mr. Fordham shows you.' be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. astonishment. satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big the table and went her way, with a promise to come again whenever Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to with frightened eyes at his accuser. "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "Capital! Between your brandy and your bandage, I feel a new man. "Do you go out much in society?" either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter "I don't believe it."