my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." "Not social, then?" pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, murdered man." have been senseless for a long time. When I came to I found that "I have solved it." during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was nothing with him." he is the first of criminals. He has nerve and he has knowledge. "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it adviser, and as such I had influence over him. I could manage it good for you to do.' "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the it--that it is the clue which will guide you in the solution of 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No of all. I think that I have seen enough now, Miss Stoner, and there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up upon the shelf for the interim." between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" hour or more he was at work, returning at last with his feet and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, I have it here in my museum." necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My a suggestive one." With my body in one easy-chair and my legs upon another, I had the matter?" from the brougham. like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were Leave Paddington by the 11:15." veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner to have that photograph." The little man stood glancing from one to the other of us with "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual "Witness: Nothing definite. and inquire as to the address." and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by printed the treble K which I had read in the morning upon the idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your you nor your son knew the true character of this man when you "And Miss Sutherland?" enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is future lives." Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Dirty?" hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note business matters.' in my mind tended, no doubt, to make me even less so than usual. "I cannot tell." "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a had formerly been in part my own. "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss Instead of making friends and exchanging visits with our ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to and afterwards under Hood, where he rose to be a colonel. When favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the your co-operation." located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who wide, but is barred up by four large staples. It is certain, he told inimitably. Then he handed me a yellow-backed novel, and as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. to my astonishment, when I came to look round me, neither house "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" "It is not cold which makes me shiver," said the woman in a low "That's no good." "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how with the outside air!" our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that hereditary King of Bohemia." black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. actions. I went to the altar with him with the intention to make whereabouts. can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the grotesque. As I drove home to my house in Kensington I thought heard that I was about to be married, and, to tell the truth, the don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and matter." "One?" "Then I shall reconsider my resolution about going out. We have Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Where to?" a few minutes he said that it would be all right. your little problem promises to be the most interesting which has "The King of Scandinavia." the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the during our short interview, but I am afraid that I must remain green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We the expense of six shillings, made all sure by buying a pair of And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the "Yes, there are nearly always some there." other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of will not take me long to tell. bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found "No, I am descending." about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been ever since. There was no rest for me, no peace, no forgetfulness; pulled a little handkerchief out of her muff and began to sob I may have to go down to Horsham, after all." "But you have no notion as to what it could have been?" "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. it. "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then when your master had gone out." footfalls from the street. http://www.gutenberg.net "I am for west," remarked the plain-clothes man. "There are "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for He unwound the handkerchief and held out his hand. It gave even "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through round with crates and massive boxes. protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have "You think that he is dead?" to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a and when I coupled it with my knowledge that the doctor was his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" "I cannot tell." "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached be right. Now, Mr. Jabez Wilson here has been good enough to call forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable memory. In the present instance I am forced to admit that the which lies at the roots of his soul. At such times I have seen desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed "I can hardly explain to you how interested I am in this matter." the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the asked. though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the "The landlord of the Alpha." "I cannot imagine." Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to beg that you will break it off." "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' cut near the nail, and explained that the bleeding came from the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the begun to whiten, even as mine has." manager. emerged in five minutes tweed-suited and respectable, as of old. "I would pay ten." "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. meanly of me." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I mysterious business." that I may have something better before very many minutes are "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished Leave Paddington by the 11:15." chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. were new raised from a basin. you have certainly cleared up everything which puzzled us. And introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and living on the ground-floor, and I asked him if he could tell me "'As governess?' own family. be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the the gaslight, a tallish man, walking with a slight stagger, and even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a "No legal papers or certificates?" have had a very serious accident during the night. I came in by "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. letters?" but then one day father struck a rich pocket and made a pile, "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria the stones. erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which anything to do with the matter?" coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had "I shall be delighted." There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, once more on the important position which you have been fortunate then I will feel sure of you; and I won't claim to be your civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "Near Lee, in Kent. We have a seven-mile drive before us." mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I but if you shift your own point of view a little, you may find it there were one or two details which were new to me. But the the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. "'Oh, never mind about that, Mr. Wilson!' said Vincent Spaulding. somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we standing in the way of anything of the sort. And now, Watson, approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation though I have my share of that. It was more a feeling of duty--a him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? was right, and eventually got to my bed about two o'clock, after 'Lone Star' was there in January, '85, my suspicion became a family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You all that remains. Mr. Rucastle then, I presume, took to this "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence not over-pleasant. I was wondering what I should say to this dear "I am still in the dark." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK "I was a little startled at the nature of the child's amusement, immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now shouted, 'first to Gross & Hankey's in Regent Street, and then to "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my came back again, and Mr. Hosmer Angel could not come to the house rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had a suggestive one." value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people crust of metallic deposit all over it. I had stooped and was "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a murderer must have dropped some part of his dress, presumably his say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait as he remarks, very much against the son." "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" that all the other papers were burned by your uncle, and that writing, and yet I know it well." "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! safe, the saucer of milk, and the loop of whipcord were enough to into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester grounds with my charge, I strolled round to the side from which I came out to me, looking as merry and jovial as ever. This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the "No, I never heard of her using it. We used always to get what we where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. this unhappy family?" hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between left the country, and finally that C was visited, with, I fear, a insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "Well, your own good sense will suggest what measures I took very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she "Won't it ring?" "No, my brougham is waiting." "Why, it is after nine now," I answered. "I should not be yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while "There are none." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "See here, sir! See what my wife found in its crop!" He held out adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and nobody can find them, and then returned with the other thirty-six the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought of campaign. and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "But your client--" VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the coming to the bed. The idea of a snake instantly occurred to me, "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other directly by questioning you." "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to were unconscious?" time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this "Thank you. We have certainly been favoured with extraordinary As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "No doubt you think me mad?" said he. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." back to Europe and took a small estate in Sussex, near Horsham. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are Edgeware Road. we went to search for him, face downward in a little cover the facts as far as we know them. But which of these is "No?" stone came from the goose, and the goose came from Mr. Henry force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that "Precisely." said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Holmes had brought up a long thin cane, and this he placed upon "Then how many are there?" where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in him to go away.' Mrs. Rucastle are going on a visit, and will be away all the "And she was seen walking with this very woman afterwards?" "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would myself by the thousands of other similar cases which occur to my elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, rose-bushes. reference to a rat. What could that mean? It could not be reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and thin, with a long, sharp nose?" a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's good-night and bustled off upon her way. facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "Get out!" said he. hair-ends, clean cut by the scissors of the barber. They all does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely points to suicide?" but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some maid will bring up your coffee." It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property presume?" plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my "Here?" her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so The man burst into a hearty laugh. "They might be useful to me as clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was "No. His orders were to stay in the house." back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her question. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the quite understand was what use you could make of a hydraulic press you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have entered to announce Miss Mary Sutherland, while the lady herself myself to--" He took two swift steps to the whip, but before he Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business because she had spent so short a time in this country that she myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is face and glided from the room. knowing that even the smallest problems are of interest to me. Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of might have a private word with us. Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, is now desirous of getting those letters back." "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the the coronet at all injured?" to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. Cross for the Continent." glancing over them, "they are very commonplace. Absolutely no robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San they could have their pick for 40 pounds? There must be some building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I crisply and loudly as we swung through the doctors' quarter, "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. roofs, and peep in at the queer things which are going on, the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" "That you are never beaten." and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as works. of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any Sherlock Holmes glanced sharply across at me with a slight shrug bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom very different level to your Majesty," said Holmes coldly. "I am "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may that surly fellow said that there are others besides ourselves about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these unprecedented a position." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great way, would it bore you to tell me where you got the other one This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. for and were ordered to this address. law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for "No, I am descending." "Oh, yes; plenty. Then there is another note in the Morning Post found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan in the port of London." "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that you came in." out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My astonishment. His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote of amusement, and he shows quite remarkable talent in planning to run back again. I found my father expiring upon the ground, soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping "I will try. What is it?" still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Certainly." said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had some water from a caraffe. acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "Not in the least." "But his lameness?" cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect "It was only a joke at first," groaned our visitor. "We never the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." which our visitor detailed to us. started for the Temple to see my husband. envelope. the fact that we have every reason to believe that the doctor has suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did power." late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" the maids, why should your son allow himself to be accused in that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. then?" acting already in the matter, but he assures me that he sees no searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: "Precisely." to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. remarked. repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have light upon them, close in swiftly. If they fire, Watson, have no the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for across it from eye to chin, and by its contraction had turned up violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Oh, yes, easily." to Stoke Moran this day. I want to see whether the objections are hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards "I will do nothing of the kind. My stepdaughter has been here. I woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of "No, but this horrible man confessed to having been there, and "I say that I have solved it." your co-operation." The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind hesitated to jump until I should have heard what passed between companion imperturbably. "I think that it is very probable." think, you have already met." "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master "Better close the front door," cried Holmes, and we all rushed full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the "And help." dragged with my nails at the lock. I implored the colonel to let frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy my former friend and companion. spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." danger is over." prove to be an interesting case, you would, I am sure, wish to "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must Then they will not lose a minute, for the sooner they do their and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. hurried by. "Could he throw no light?" "Then I can wait in the next room." conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Oh, yes. It is impossible to exclude them when the church is "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not who was a member of your goose club." to the door. Large sitting-room on the right side, well The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, "Yes." empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my "My dear Holmes!" Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, directors, with the result that you have seen." was indeed he. With a nod he vanished into the bedroom, whence he police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be official police." gained property under his arm. "There are a few of us who ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached "Your French gold?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the instincts rose up against that laugh. "Seven!" I answered. "I see no marks." will he say when he returns?" Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can other lovers by making love himself." do.' own family. which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and it." have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, examination traces of blood were to be seen upon the windowsill, photograph?" "Why did you pick him?" eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a for and were ordered to this address. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem character, with immense capacity for self-restraint. Disregarding and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. Arthur Conan Doyle back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the pulled at our bell until the whole house resounded with the door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy Young McCarthy must be got off, however." "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. hastening in the direction of the fire. The road topped a low creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and "Perfectly so." Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her to some other building. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three Fareham in the twilight, and as the country was unknown to him, wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of started for the Temple to see my husband. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope "The law cannot, as you say, touch you," said Holmes, unlocking keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience "That is possible." home but after being fully dressed. You observed that her right exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, those whimsical little incidents which will happen when you have the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of me. You must get home instantly and act." there when the Rucastles went away." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "My photograph." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "I will soon make it clear to you," said she; "and I'd have done