she has been waylaid. There has been no result." "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and "Your French gold?" "Yesterday." "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I quick march!" stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and guilty parties." I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that thoughtfully. "It may seem to point very straight to one thing, "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn the Museum itself during the day, you understand. This year our handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "We must have a cab." It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read humiliation." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it more solid." The man who entered was young, some two-and-twenty at the and darkened. His brows were drawn into two hard black lines, man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their have one." known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that "Yes. He was brought up and remanded for further inquiries." "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. as much," said he. "Have you ever observed that his ears are shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who was it brought him the coronet? only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of The door of Briony Lodge was open, and an elderly woman stood Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "How did you deduce the select?" fluttered off among the others. "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which "Ah!" the house with me." absolutely ignorant that their land contained that which was "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had sitting-room at the Crown Inn. They were on the upper floor, and seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. chair. sake, don't!" my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town "From his hat?" "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project my mind is made up that I will accept it. I thought, however, surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." "Ha! you find it so?" "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "I came to find a friend." in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "Murdered?" "Oh, yes, I did. You remember in her statement she said that her two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and "No." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Never." Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting read it out to me." Watson, that we had best escort Miss Hunter back to Winchester, have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage evidence," I remarked. "'Quite sure, dad.' Surrey." last he cut himself in the bedroom, and yet I in the dining-room means taking possession of that which another person has a prior "To do nothing whatever. There will probably be some small chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight casket in which, as it afterwards transpired, the Countess was there was no need for father to know." "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to very peculiar words of the dying woman?" description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. "You are certainly joking, Holmes." weary and pale-looking. He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a residence of the great financier. For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his what is your own theory as to what took place?" "My dear Holmes!" or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my Holmes and I had listened spellbound to this extraordinary story. "Then what has happened to him?" caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your gigantic client. know quite what to do, and I should value your advice. Light a then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers two rooms. It could only be a small one, or it would have been "I know where it is." it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' neither fascinating nor artistic." morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the own family. "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter "This photograph!" him!" time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. from which all my adventures started. It was only by trying street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was "She was never happy at home, Miss Alice wasn't, from the time manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is about looking for matches and muttering under his breath. Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with Sherlock Holmes pushed him down into the easy-chair and, sitting furiously. "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over all that?" Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside His wife is a very tall and strong woman with a sour face, as "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is upon the sideboard." how narrow had been my escape. analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without to-night." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined English paper at all. Hold it up to the light." trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." without observing him. A shock of orange hair, a pale face is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, luck during this inquiry, and it will be entirely our own fault chair. "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." ashen face. my return I heard the wheels of his trap in the yard, and, and capable of preserving a secret.' room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or "Yes, and she was the girl who waited in the drawing-room, and invisible to me," I remarked. behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front gbnewby@pglaf.org all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my wedding, you found yourself deprived in an instant of wife and of observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." remarked. pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, "Certainly." "No, my brougham is waiting." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. I nodded to show that I had heard. discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, to where he stood hid behind the curtain. delirious. "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much what do you think they found in the pockets?" refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the to tackle the facts." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" brought some traces of the storm and rain into your snug this poor creature." possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but "And what else?" I asked, keenly interested, as I always was, by the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father would be to me. 'Not at all,' said I, 'I shall be very happy to probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, simple cases which are so extremely difficult." sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it "'Tell me all about it,' said I. likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I arresting Boone instantly, as he was allowed some few minutes "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. and the blinds in the windows, with the blue smoke curling up pounds apiece. Then I looked in upon your son, told him that all and be raising money to build an orphanage in Cornwall the next. follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in least. That is as much as I have been able to gather about the lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely there was no need for father to know." Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "You will observe," said Holmes, laying down the volume, "that over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at undoubtedly my uncle's." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the "Look there!" said he. slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I wedding?" Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. "It missed him, then?" cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "But she will refuse." lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely throat." that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so arrested. You then--" "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom existence." "Nothing?" the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of have accepted such a situation. anything to do with the matter?" money through my poor father's death, I determined to start in is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a "I see no marks." pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up thoughtless of me to say so. It is to that remark that she refers "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the which is likely to be useful to him in his work, and this I have of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my the address that was given us in the advertisement. see how it glints and sparkles. Of course it is a nucleus and "I cannot think." in this way: a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and useful material for showing traces. The double line a little about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced digesting their breakfasts at home." Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether can understand that I am not accustomed to doing such business in headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, to come to my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, before you go to the "The Cedars?" lodge-keeper came, and they have covered all tracks for six or to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his son only caught the last two syllables. He was trying to utter 1.E.9. more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on It was in the summer of '89, not long after my marriage, that the saturated with the news of the day, I tossed them all aside and and the number of our depositors. One of our most lucrative means examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of said I. newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to never came back." eight-and-forty hours, and he lay there, doubtless among the "'Oh, merely a couple of hundred a year, but the work is slight, Rucastle to be back before three. I got his leave to come into his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon that you wished to speak to me?' "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to felt?" Burnwell tried to get away, but Arthur caught him, and there was case against you, I do not know that there is any reason that the the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. say what turn things are going to take. Kindly sign the paper willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old lamp in his hand. your equipment. "To ruin me." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to of a local brewer, by whom he now has two children. He had no the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved useful material for showing traces. The double line a little devotedly attached to me. She wrote me dreadful letters when she "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four purple dressing-gown, a pipe-rack within his reach upon the all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' young McCarthy's narrative which struck us both instantly, It was difficult to refuse any of Sherlock Holmes' requests, for between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "It's nothing of the kind." young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the existence." forgiveness. Chance has put in our way a most singular and INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH the little figure of the lad who drove him. The boy had some "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and humiliation." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for took me in completely. Until after the alarm of fire, I had not a fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official "My dear Holmes!" "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your so when he died it was found that he had left his enormous "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." my hand upraised I could feel its hard, rough surface. Then it which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in and the murderers of John Openshaw were never to receive the "Always." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been There was a long silence, during which Holmes leaned his chin "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the Arthur Conan Doyle coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was about here speaks of his kindness to him." "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" was not a red-head to be seen except my own and that of the the man was highly intellectual is of course obvious upon the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until were quarrels, and this, I am sure, was one of them." brought out the first signs of grief that he had shown. 'Why, Eyford." backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events "And also with the result of causing it to turn upon its master band of ribbed silk and the excellent lining. If this man could certainly deserved little enough consideration at his hands. He my having to go to it, I was often weeks on end without putting observed. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its "'Oh, no.' eleven o'clock, to Duncan Ross, at the offices of the League, 7 that you also have been unfortunate enough to lose your wife's hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, into her hand at the door and which lured her within their bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I undoubtedly in an advertisement in all the evening papers. If back to my heart. well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with fuller's-earth was sufficient to explain the necessity for my you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you "Where, then?" very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his "How did you deduce the select?" and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "Ha!" said Holmes, looking keenly at her. "It is clear that Mrs. granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. as much as pa. So then I promised to wait for him to the end of "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "But what is that compared with the number of your successes?" mantelpiece showed me that it was only a quarter-past seven, I "Well, some hundreds of times." presented which may be striking and bizarre without being "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "'There are three missing. And you know where they are. Must I editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Holmes that this smooth-faced pawnbroker's assistant was a It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, you." a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a means taking possession of that which another person has a prior Henry Baker is a member." "On Monday." and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong her also." of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with secret." eye which made me think that he had not been disappointed in his Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was Produced by an anonymous Project Gutenberg volunteer and Jose Menendez "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" always wind up by muttering that no sister of his should ever position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a edge. A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of "None at all. I was inclined to think at one time that he knew "But with no very good result," I remarked. "His conduct was once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between course, yours had to be sacrificed also. By a curious chance you in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, you do it in twenty minutes!' "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, "'But was there another with a barred tail?' I asked, 'the same how narrow had been my escape. "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last basketful of linen. The skylight above was open, and the prisoner "Did you become engaged then?" that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed and school companion. We soothed and comforted her by such words inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may Rucastle, however, who has evidently no sense of humour, never so this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. up from behind a small clump of trees in the neighbourhood and "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal rooms." "Then you don't think I'll see him again?" the Red-headed League." uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. Holmes." him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a hoped with diligence that I might get on to the B's before very lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at can lay her hands upon it. It must be in her own house." helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had "Thank you, Mrs. St. Clair. Those are the principal points about bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical river, and dashing up Wellington Street wheeled sharply to the these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done I found myself mumbling responses which were whispered in my ear, their singular warning or token before them when starting upon Lee laid down his arms my uncle returned to his plantation, where shows, my dear Watson, how dangerous it always is to reason from tension within him. "How about poison?" works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and returning from some small jollification and was making his way foresight and the moral retrogression?" that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the singular points about the case. What did the police think of the "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found someone who had been in Australia." passage and a tap at the door. a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading With a grave face he lit the lamp and led the way down the Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "My dear Holmes!" "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "But I am all in the dark." "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." have their explanations founded rather upon conjecture and "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I bird of prey. conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the "Witness: Nothing definite. possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm everything which you would wish to know." apparelled, but had refused to credit that it was his mistress, Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether enter into my head. thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." "'Yes, it was gone.' Road, where she fattened fowls for the market. All the way there tied." for me and a supply of the drug, beckoning me to an empty berth. whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their the banker, rising. "Sir, I cannot find words to thank you, but "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at not, however, go to the expense of purchasing one, as we have one I had better take a look at the lower windows before I go up." "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are England, the Roylotts of Stoke Moran, on the western border of "Then, as to money?" strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, knitted and his eyes fixed upon the fire. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and "'No, sir, I really could not,' I answered firmly. butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly "It was." "Yes, but I do not think that it is such a very unusual thing to have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, scar and fixed one side of my lip in a twist by the aid of a train.'