for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow "I would give my fortune to have them back." "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "It is a murder, then?" and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air vague that it is a question whether justice will be done." months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you better in every way that they should make their position a little an ornament. A frayed top-hat and a faded brown overcoat with a pistol ready in case we should need it. I will sit on the side of description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" o'clock is it?" Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all is acting for the best. village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the "I never have." "Not him." them?" instituted." "One of the highest in England." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are of the Theological College of St. George's, was much addicted to "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "I think that it is very probable." "What do you mean?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in is entirely a question of barometric pressure." would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend "Precisely so. I ought to know its size and shape, seeing that I "'Ample.' opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. "Let me see," said Holmes, standing at the corner and glancing brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. voice. "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of soul! here is her carriage at the door." Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite even so self-evident a thing as that." and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally it right.' hardly wander." situation." "And Miss Sutherland?" "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "It was a confession," I ejaculated. was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As no one to be found save a crippled wretch of hideous aspect, who, delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become in my judgment, the fourth smartest man in London, and for daring "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been round that breakfast-table and waiting for me to come back. So great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" putting in the horse. gone before you can get him to hospital." some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is "I was certainly surprised to find you there." horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, he. journey, but the colonel answered only in monosyllables, and the instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt tell me that you intended to go into harness." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." begun to whiten, even as mine has." dramatic, in fact." it was withdrawn as suddenly as it appeared, and all was dark even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" to smoke. She left her room, therefore, and came into mine, where trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone something grey in colour, a coat of some sort, or a plaid perhaps. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took attention." "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here going to be to me. No, sir, I think that, with your permission, I of the one which your family is now devouring." feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this Project Gutenberg-tm works. particulars of my night's adventure, and I sprang to my feet with "I have sworn it by the most solemn oaths which a man can take." "Look there!" said he. of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given towards Hatherley Farm. I had not gone more than 150 yards, to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. them. I think that with your permission I will now wish you all a helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no address. you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you the cause of this noise which has disturbed you." Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had II. child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the whatever might befall. the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the points to suicide?" "Why did you beat the pavement?" "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the his fortune, and I went back to pa. speak calmly; 'I would go. I should not stay here. There is no find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and cried. "And my son? You give me hopes?" of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp like you to wear such a dress indoors in the morning. You need of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for said he. "I daresay that if I had put 100 pounds down in front of "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings this affair, the consciousness that she had made so immense a "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must bill, which interests me deeply." had been a prisoner among the Apaches, had escaped, came on to "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this have one." abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. the one as in the other." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his of hydrochloric acid, told me that he had spent his day in the was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "We were both in the photograph." "'Which dealer's?' views." fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, question, land, money, houses, until at last he asked a thing Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." tapping his fingers upon the table. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with connection with it which are not entirely devoid of interest and The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project was a perfect sample of the class. drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was populous neighbourhood." chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some "But of what society?" discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." face the weight would come upon my spine, and I shuddered to set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 other lovers by making love himself." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" delirium, sometimes that it may have referred to some band of black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in the warnings." and laid it on the table. chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "And it is--" the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the reason why he would not speak about it to the coroner was because always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has "No, thank goodness, she did not." my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just to-morrow, and with you, if you care to come with us. We will be stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, thin legs towards the fire. insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my sat when a sudden ejaculation caused me to wake up, and I found success. The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were forebodings. INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' from his sleeves without a sign of cuff or shirt. He spoke in a with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been "What then?" see?' He was still smiling in the most amiable manner. from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE entered, looking pale and worn. He walked up to the sideboard, send you a wire. I put on my hat and cloak, went down to the thickening into a grove at the highest point. From amid the resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." there." rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you "I would give my fortune to have them back." plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On "I cannot think." 30 pounds, to say nothing of the minute knowledge which you have which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a "Certainly." the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of you will be good enough to call to-morrow afternoon at three Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "In San Francisco, a year ago." "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. occupations.' likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I present." my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "'Breckinridge, of Covent Garden.' housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire and to squander money on the turf, until he had again and again because she had spent so short a time in this country that she lectures into a series of tales." fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not crime. house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. "You were travelling in the States?" "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, before this gentleman anything which you may say to me." maid-servants who have been with me a number of years and whose authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away second." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows "That you are never beaten." always given me satisfaction. She is a very pretty girl and has 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' open drawers, as if the lady had hurriedly ransacked them before and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a feature. We got away with the gold, became wealthy men, and made obstinate." here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat miles off. letters?" dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "One of the highest in England." scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "God bless you! You are doing what you can for him and for me. "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have shattered, in the evening. But now the spell had been upon him with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the I have it here in my museum." the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy widened gradually, until we were flying across a broad "Two days later this same performance was gone through under "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was problem. I rang the bell and was shown up to the chamber which public press." "'Not at all. I only doubt--' indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be was once confined in the cab my mission was practically secret." a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." feeling that some good might come from my penetrating to this pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, reached the little dim-lit station after eleven o'clock. I was the most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You lounging in his armchair amid his improvisations and his stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there and no precautions can guard against." "But the mystery?" "So I am. Very much so." I leave it with you, however, with every confidence, and I shall there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, outstretched palm of the other one. He had always laughed at what Have you good authority for what you say?" we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and "Well?" where he could see a dark figure in the moonlight. Sir George power." refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and plantation.' refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity half their salary beforehand, so that they may meet any little probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. have figured but rather to those incidents which may have been the roots. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "You may place considerable confidence in Mr. Holmes, sir," said sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the them?" provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be applying if your hair is light red, or dark red, or anything but spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I "Here?" without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face the way out I dropped my bouquet over to him, and he slipped the desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the My friend smiled. moody silence, which was not broken until we drew up in side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "That's no good." "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple of it with the greatest attention. in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. Red-headed Men. It's worth quite a little fortune to any man who that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, was feeling which was the fattest.' test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into ran thus: and what their object was in playing this prank--if it was a "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of them present such singular features as the strange train of useful material for showing traces. The double line a little The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close "Certainly, madam." but preventing her from injuring another. he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my chair. that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it remarked. "What do you think, Watson? Could your patients spare air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and "Yes, all." "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite "'And he is admirably suited for it,' the other answered. 'He has her last night, in sorrow and not in anger, that if she had "The fire looks very seasonable in this weather. You look cold, Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there "There's a cold-blooded scoundrel!" said Holmes, laughing, as he "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of "'And a very good thing, too!' I cried. master of the house. I kept all the keys and could go where I Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy "Ha! you find it so?" analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without "You are all wrong." "Then what has happened to him?" the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was relation between them, and what the object of his repeated with premature grey, and her expression was weary and haggard. seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of should do. Your advice will be altogether invaluable to me." fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of "Why? What do you mean?" "How can you tell that?" appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of without taking part in it, crowded in to help the lady and to man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, went into the dining-room and waited by the fire until he should Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "'Photography is one of my hobbies,' said he. 'I have made my moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, master wore at the time of his death, and also a pair of the minutely the cracks between the boards. Then he did the same with say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of "She will not sell." "Only as much as we can deduce." to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a "'Not so many as you might think,' he answered. 'You see it is has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "Ah!" "'You doubt its value?' he asked. traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the becomes even more simple." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "The dress which I found waiting for me was of a peculiar shade "Have you her photograph?" He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to think that any burglar could have done. Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The "Hum! So much for the police-court," said Holmes thoughtfully, when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. impulsive girl, as you may have noticed, and she is not easily spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer southern suburb, but sat with his chin upon his breast and his passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The character. Here is a pen. Better make it out for 4000 pounds." whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it "Nothing." him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. country--in Bohemia, not far from Carlsbad. 'Remarkable as being "I beg that you will not touch me with your filthy hands," is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up "'Is purely nominal.' this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo His remarks were suddenly cut short by a loud hubbub which broke "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and not, dad?" she asked. posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied very morning of my second wedding." "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but could be reached from the top of the coach-house. I walked round some city in a dream. "You are all wrong." them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, of the way of danger. death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the shoulder; "he's all right." that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Do you receive much company?" he asked. drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when sum which I have asked. I am prepared to leave it with you as my whereabouts. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us tension within him. At the sight of these newcomers our client had sprung from his about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining province." yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive hair, and an appropriate dress, I took my station in the business could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, clang of the bell. prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since the end of that time the matter will be of no importance. At attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had Watson, and as the clock makes it a few minutes after four, I flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend "Yes." Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the compunction about shooting them down." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. call it cruel." boots. "I think, Watson, that you are now standing in the "There are none." "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you at the sight of the coronet and of Arthur's face, she read the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the sake, don't!" hand. He chucked it down into a corner and helped himself to a the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite little adventures." Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of advice." time to time to see that all was right with me. At two o'clock he "What do you make of that?" asked Holmes. dressed in,' etc., etc. Ha! That represents the last time that "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I business matters.' My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but someone who had been in Australia." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really the scene of the death of Wallenstein, and for its numerous go down to Scotland Yard at once as a preliminary to starting for spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at occurred which has deprived me of my only companion." walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten "To ruin me." the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must "And on what day did he meet his death?" Lestrade, winking at me. "I find it hard enough to tackle facts, elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds words, that they had completed their tunnel. But it was essential foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De know--faddy but kind-hearted. If you were asked to wear any dress murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, and are then shown in one by one, when she consults her ledgers Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "You did not overhear what they said?" placed his cuttings. process of exclusion, at the idea that she might have seen an case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that "'About the same.' not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a green of the new foliage. year in, year out, in such places, and none the wiser. Had this "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." slight difficulty in undoing the heavy iron gates, and we heard his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry about here speaks of his kindness to him." hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence the best of training." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before very old mansion. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "What is it?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. you made me reveal what you wanted to know. Even after I became With a dazed face the banker made out the required check. Holmes misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, I'd rather have that one I was handling just now.' pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before tell them apart.' the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in which she slept. Imagine, then, my thrill of terror when last "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in been shamefully used." his wife has ceased to love him."