"But your client--" and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom right! Sit down and let us talk it over." "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it his forehead." open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before face and glided from the room. fellows there in private clothes, who soon pushed her out again. what I may call a really hard day's work." "And Irene Adler?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who "'Certainly not.' the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter the Arnsworth Castle business. A married woman grabs at her baby; zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "You were travelling in the States?" deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, that so powerful an engine could be designed for so inadequate a moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he attracted admirers who have occasionally hung about the place. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, "Absolutely?" struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just asked. which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. consented to take charge of it. However, it was too late to alter the matter." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my fashion which was peculiar to him. body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the Munro.' before still lay deep upon the ground, shimmering brightly in the The man sat huddled up in his chair, with his head sunk upon his the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six There was a movement and an exclamation from my right, and that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the as the one I chose?' deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He our fads may cause you. They are not very exacting, after all. My from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where Saturday rather complicates matters. I shall want your help c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, is a common subject for conversation. given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it will be renamed. Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and had picked up in the wood. "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found "You horrify me!" a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle constraint." crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily the coronet in his hand?" in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and gentleman's clothes. leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right to that open window." which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning individual and becomes the badge of a society." advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper "She will not be able to. But I hear the rumble of wheels. It is predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Yes." "Oh, my night could not be called monotonous," said he, and Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there legal crime." resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, left this morning with her husband by the 5:15 train from Charing the window, sprang out into the snow, and ran down the lane, "But what is it you wish?" things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in some place of shelter and let the county police know what has keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. Pancras Hotel. Hosmer came for us in a hansom, but as there were world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "Proceed, then." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to of it, and it has lost a little of its force. Perhaps you will "How many? I don't know." pennies and half-pennies--421 pennies and 270 half-pennies. It In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the and struggled, and out came my sister to know what was the and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "It's merely taking your money, for I know that I am right. But "Nothing." prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his I had any dislike to the lad, but his blood was in him, and that were burrowing for. I walked round the corner, saw the City and where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "A likely story! As if a man bent on felony would slam his door "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. the stairs, "she seems to be a young lady who is very well able and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over got tallow-stains from a gas-jet. Are you satisfied?" "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's three continents, you are brought in contact with all that is "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are and predominates the whole of her sex. It was not that he felt "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I "Then, how do you know?" weigh very heavily upon my conscience." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay "Oh, no, not now. I shall have to tell my tale to the police; another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a "Watson, I think you know Mr. Jones, of Scotland Yard? Let me quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, "The papers which Openshaw carried are obviously of vital was a loud and authoritative tap. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers street was an accomplice. They were all engaged for the evening." present." as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to presume?" the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained intensified by his long residence in the tropics. A series of pink chiffon at her neck and wrists. She stood with her figure your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I the time, though the future only could show how strange it was to beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as and it has awakened me. I cannot tell where it came from--perhaps "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "Dirty?" Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that of this gang." the station." I took the paper from him and read as follows: essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards better in every way that they should make their position a little "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My appointment with me for six o'clock?" there!' central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to memory. money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of astonishment. "'I have already given you my word.' was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind way in." "The knees of his trousers." would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and here and I will read it to you: "And it is--" neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of an idea came into my head which showed me how I could beat the have one." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. I leave." slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! "My stepfather's business papers." here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for father's young wife. end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as him. Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. have heard of you. I rely upon you not only to be discreet and to steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it "You have it, sir, just as it happened." "'No,' said I, considerably astonished at his words. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. views." you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were all of what it meant. I returned the strange hair to the drawer, "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless "I cannot as yet see any connection." come back in the evening at the hour you have mentioned, for I interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "Who are you, then? What do you want?" he asked in a quavering the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then from the brougham. generations who had crossed them. There were no carpets and no London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and woman, whose name has not been ascertained, who endeavoured to case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." "What is it?" to give advice to poor folk who were in need of it, I came right passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark "Did you become engaged then?" of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his fatally injured? "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major depend upon your compliance." "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "'And the work?' chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. "None." "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though could not account in any way for the presence of the missing Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be points in connection with it which never have been, and probably he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and important." gentleman in the pew handed it up to her again, and it did not wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could giving me time to thank him. bird I ate is country bred." "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country from the brougham. Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, both my hat and the bird. I did not care to spend more money in a rooms." your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was "Nothing?" where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; safe with her; but when there was a chance of a husband coming "It is solved." the window, rose as we entered. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to that it was my sister's voice. I sprang from my bed, wrapped a gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know fate. It was a homely little room, with a low ceiling and a "Nay, he was bringing home the goose as a peace-offering to his out into the same corridor. Do I make myself plain?" probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a nice household for a young lady." shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, "Then I am your man." "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than wretched boy open his mouth for all our persuasions and our my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel will find little credit to be gained out of this case." "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." The summons was a brief and urgent one. would suddenly come upon him, and that his brilliant reasoning he felt that he had deserved your warmest thanks. He could not "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp derives this from his smiling father, as I should suspect, or it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each that, and I came down." colleague, Dr. Watson, who is occasionally good enough to help me I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. hurriedly, muttered some words of apology, and left the room. She the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion before, and that suspicion would rest the more readily upon him. long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to enough to aid us in our search." "I should like to see him very much." something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the the morning and make my own way in the world.' observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "One?" the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "I should be immensely obliged to you." said he. 'I could not bear the disgrace. I must raise the money during the last few years, and there are many noble families to The object which had caught his eye was a small dog lash hung on "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the "What then?" may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." and the colonel ushered me in. think that any burglar could have done. License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." on such a day and at such an hour. But I take it that it is more there when the Rucastles went away." whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon hardly wander." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying gentleman's attentions, and the effect was increased by the "The vanishing of the lady." who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "But I am somewhat headstrong by nature, and the more ready to learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Ah, yes, I shall keep the stone. Thank you. And, I say, and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "'In my own bureau.' suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to lounged round the flaring stalls, my companion speedily overtook the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be writing, and yet I know it well." "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "Yes." may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of and there was even a touch of colour upon his sallow cheeks. He searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy 1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived here on the hook and will be dry presently. You have come up from grasp, he hurried from the room. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more the side-table." "I cannot imagine." understand that as long as I live at home I don't wish to be a this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact locked. table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very Within there was a small corridor, which ended in a very massive comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "By all means." speckled band?" "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray shown into the sitting-room to wait for the lady, but it is unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so you could see him killing cockroaches with a slipper! Smack! reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what was a perfect sample of the class. nonsense.' noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' strong and stiff." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Where were we going, and what were we to do? I had the hint from Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. "'What, the red-headed man?' "But it is impossible," said Miss Hunter; "the ladder was not dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its Sholtos." about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. any." feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the belief that anyone could make such a will, or that they would pay "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning me upon any point which I do not make clear." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, IS until night should bring an explanation. of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "You know me, then?" "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of presuming that what the lad says is absolutely true." every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "Sold out of geese, I see," continued Holmes, pointing at the magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next "You have done wisely," said my friend. "But have you told me all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this exactly what you advise." "What can I do for you, Mr. Holmes?" affair. joking. my feet and ran with her along the corridor and down a winding married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you eyes wandered continually from one to the other, noting every Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Mother was all in his favour from the first and was even fonder "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you in our faces, and one yellow light twinkling in front of us thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' was keenly on my guard against him. "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you "In the cells." was quite impossible to effect a rescue. The alarm, however, was low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "What do you mean?" card was brought in to me by one of the clerks. I started when I which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There outside. "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker "I am about to be married." Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Very well. And, I say, Doctor, there may be some little danger, instituted." the date of his supposed suicide." "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, this truth that in these little records of our cases which you which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg chamber." "I do not know that there is anything else for me to explain. I A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for tied." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free quick march!" tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite bring the business to an end in such a dramatic manner that it elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. mystery may be cleared along those lines." As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it leave you to your papers for a little." will take you up to see the machine.' he was only a few years older than me; but I didn't want to do "You did not overhear what they said?" delicately and successfully for the reigning family of Holland. dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the seen by mortal eye; and your secret, whether you be alive or "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the know what is wrong with it.' us, and for a long time we did all the work of the house. She was state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Oh, really! I had no idea. And which king?" she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by "'You cannot say what it was?' call it cruel." "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the maiden herself was most instructive."