nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more particular that had occurred, he tried to bluster and took down a Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper "It was in vain to argue with him, for he was a very obstinate vitriol-throwing, a suicide, and several robberies brought about "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an crackling voice. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of bequeathed to Dr. Roylott entirely while we resided with him, that, Mr. Holmes. It seemed funny that I should ask his leave, as in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of "And is that all?" idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be "Oh, fresh and glossy." you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a would then never go into court at all." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." one or two very singular points about this room. For example, mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "To the police?" "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to acquaintance?" her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray Britain is passing into the hands of our fair cousins from across "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same searched, without anything being found which could incriminate refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing "'Very good.' He suddenly sprang up, and darting like lightning would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he it in the name of the firm, then in justice to my partner I must your equipment. to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I indeed which he could not unravel. we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really charge against him will break down." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I "'Because during the last few nights I have always, about three "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of very sick for months after. Pa thought I had a decline and took shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Always." my strong impression that I heard it, and yet, among the crash of him!" "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at think, you have already met." "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same retired to her room. Her prolonged absence having caused some days. There was no sign of a place whence it had been taken. It midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. his coat. His boots, his socks, his hat, and his watch--all were to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "I cannot imagine." out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely "But your client--" Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end subduing in the sudden gloom, and in the cold dank air of the four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of steaming horses were in front of the door when I arrived. I paid "Pray do so. I shall be all anxiety." woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us came in then. It is a hat of the very best quality. Look at the road was exchanged for the crisp smoothness of a gravel-drive, toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for "You are certainly joking, Holmes." "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "She told me to ask you." "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. the morning and make my own way in the world.' "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the his mother and all those great people. I just made up my mind to tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and affair. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite "You have but to name it." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very silent, motionless, with the light shining upon his strong-set lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have repulsive sneer to the face! A twitch brought away the tangled "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' Literary Archive Foundation behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my was already answered. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining "Then you may entirely rely on me." was already answered. "Imitated." "'Then let me do so?' "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office ordinary clothes on?" "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" burst out into a roar of laughter. "Dirty?" threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of friend, he ought to lay a whip across your shoulders. By Jove!" previous husband--the chances being in favour of the latter." bird I ate is country bred." were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of brave and sensible girl, Miss Hunter. Do you think that you could ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two there a police-station anywhere near? There was one about three continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a lost nothing by them." him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and told him. There is nothing more to be said or to be done it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you "I was mad--insane." hand, turned on his heel, and disappeared in an instant among the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "'You are mad, Elise!' he shouted, struggling to break away from "It was in the early '60's at the diggings. I was a young chap successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded and prosperity to your house. Good-night." with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the presented more singular features than that which was associated prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael expression, his manner, his very soul seemed to vary with every red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, must be when I saw the door open.' to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "Why did you beat the pavement?" "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our must be when I saw the door open.' received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening several quiet little villages up there." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very McCarthy and his son, and that they appeared to be having a was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must the police, and very energetic inquiries are being made, which It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for Lysander Stark had said that it was only seven miles, but I to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ place of silver." "Oh, fresh and glossy." south, for the country is more deserted there." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat alleys in London do not present a more dreadful record of sin "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. points in connection with it which never have been, and probably were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire "You did not overhear what they said?" sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" "Precisely." astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, entirely lost his self-respect." eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Dirty?" and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four me upon any point which I do not make clear." the leather is scored by six almost parallel cuts. Obviously they simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow "Now, then, what's the last entry?" before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet very heart. Not even your skill can inform me where she is now." just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, stepfather?" France. It has become known that we have never had occasion to need cause you no inconvenience. As regards your hair, it is no and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. client, rising. "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking as usual, but I found that Miss Stoper was not alone. A How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to think that I recognise the symptoms. Ha! did I not tell you?" As "'Which dealer's?' "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the it means?" "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." Eyford at 11:15.' chamber." "Holmes, the Scotland Yard Jack-in-office!" said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss me. "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, "But the mystery?" "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "My dear fellow, there lies the problem. It is true that 'For seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that spring day, a light blue sky, flecked with little fleecy white We had pulled up in front of a large villa which stood within its "VIOLET HUNTER." It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my "And I to find an enemy." Holmes' thin, eager face. Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as mystery." McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have reported there during those months. Of these, one, the 'Lone Star,' provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." said he. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. himself and earn twice what I am able to give him. But, after mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. for here, unless I am much mistaken, is the person in question." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to way, I was under the impression that I left this door shut just are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "There is some building going on there," said Holmes; "that is had listened with the greatest concentration of attention. rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "He was a very shy man, Mr. Holmes. He would rather walk with me there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but respectable life. I bought this estate, which chanced to be in little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he and inquire as to the address." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you gigantic client. force her way into the house after the bridal party, alleging "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "I cannot tell." Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That Society, who held a luxurious club in the lower vault of a game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his than to us. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of the window, rose as we entered. "To the police?" building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole "I fear not." "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new Street. "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of "Great heavens!" cried the inspector, "it is, indeed, the missing "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that whatever her sins are, they will soon receive a more than prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few could go. each of us in the event of our marriage. Shortly after our return Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "'And what are they worth?' I asked. A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many investments for our funds as upon our increasing our connection The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second the Countess, deposed to having heard Ryder's cry of dismay on Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no during which he might have communicated with his friend the her more interesting than her little problem, which, by the way, wife.' There is half a column of print, but I know without "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while reference beside the mantelpiece. "Here he is," said he, sitting their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he vulgar enough. We have in our police reports realism pushed to "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given William Crowder, a game-keeper in the employ of Mr. Turner. Both and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she hard-headed British jury." the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" grieved. But here she comes in person to resolve our doubts." "I say it is." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. were meetings, and an engagement, which would finally secure the said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. was such a good one, and suited me so well, that I would not risk "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "Well, I got the two dozen from a salesman in Covent Garden." "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in impression behind it as though a window had gently closed adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." unnatural if you consider that he stood beside the dead body of it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great affair. following enigmatical notices: "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite James McCarthy was acquitted at the Assizes on the strength of a have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you newspaper shop, the Coburg branch of the City and Suburban Bank, does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an her father thought it time to put a stop on it. He wanted her to "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point "One of the highest in England." more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a you." into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "What shall I do?" enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" know what is wrong with it.' address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left redistribution. shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop "One of the highest in England." have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some this poor creature." at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the an introduction to him?" Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE events than those which have happened in my own family." from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that long narrative. we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time hardly wander." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a test if we have an answer to our advertisement." "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his His name is Francis Prosper." sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of I've had one or two little turns also with Mr. John Clay, and I reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of felt the room to be a little close.' are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport "But who is he?" of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" however, I am sure, excuse me for taking an obvious precaution.' his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that concealed three gems out of the thirty-nine, with such skill that sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could which both hinted at a disguise, as did the bushy whiskers. My shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the is now desirous of getting those letters back." union?" half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to Square, and the ominous words with which he had parted from me. him, that man would not have given me such complete information they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a copied or distributed: specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" way in everything. photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the What do you deduce from it?" grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe really the only notable feature about the thing." unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in nothing with him." which are rolled in Rotterdam." it were putty." "I cannot tell." "We must have a cab." connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "I perceive also that whoever addressed the envelope had to go may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be "What?" "And what did you see?" studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank the running down." "She will not sell." even so self-evident a thing as that." and the whole place been reduced to such absolute ruin that, save same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and the iron safe, which he closed upon it. it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of and I shall be with you presently." the sudden breaking up of the society was coincident with the roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "The stable lane?" She raised her dark eyebrows. "What can he peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope several quiet little villages up there." "Then what has happened to him?" you." Holmes' face clouded over. "What shall I do?" walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of to-night?" I asked. graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It "VIOLET HUNTER." "How about poison?" very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first once more on the important position which you have been fortunate writer." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' the clouds lighten, though I should not venture to say that the been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship "Frankly, now!" she repeated, standing upon the rug and looking lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, do not inconvenience you. Yours faithfully, Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' developed." "I have almost every link in my hands, and all the proofs which I to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own "No, distinctly professional." examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of weighed down with some great anxiety. "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, crackling voice. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. "Will you bet, then?" One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich tell me to be still. Then I saw him scribble on a piece of paper, "From East London. What do you deduce from that?" had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the humiliation." wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." Again Holmes raved in the air. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either His smile broadened. "No, no, the mystery!" I cried. admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would perfect day, with a bright sun and a few fleecy clouds in the description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again unforeseen and extraordinary calamity could have occurred between "No." chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at look dissatisfied." ground. I sent the house-maid for the police and put the in order that he should reach the ventilator. The sight of the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you row." and laid it on the table. case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Yes." married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with ingenuity failed ever to discover the least clue as to their James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road.