impression behind it as though a window had gently closed time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do little cold supper began to be laid out upon our humble "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in as he remarks, very much against the son." away we drove to some lodgings he had taken in Gordon Square, and to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Mr. Lestrade. You know me too well to think that I am boasting Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal "I do." wedding?" hence also the allusions to a possibility of something happening his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else there it vanishes among the reeds. Oh, how simple it would all "I have come for advice." "I was mad--insane." "What I expected to see." strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There the pips to A, B, and C'--that is, sent the society's warning to and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "You were not yourself at fault at all, then?" Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent conveyed into the house. Four or five minutes afterwards the while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "It is solved." "But you would not advise me to refuse?" legal crime." forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then "And how did you find out?" "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible "None." "This Godfrey Norton was evidently an important factor in the prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that off." should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just ventilator." "Tell me," broke in the engineer, "is Dr. Becher a German, very These, we presume, indicated the nature of the papers which had "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." clad in a long grey dressing-gown, his bare ankles protruding "Two years have passed since then, and my life has been until Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an everything which you would wish to know." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a passage, opened a barred door, passed down a winding stair, and writing, and yet I know it well." It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his lectures into a series of tales." "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time had picked up in the wood. I think that I could be of assistance to you." to be improving his mind, and then diving down into the cellar "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from much excited, without either his gun or his hat, and his right "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did continued resistance of the proprietor, they made their way to "Well, at least," said Holmes, "you have had your revenge upon Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread weary and pale-looking. Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded my former friend and companion. civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. really the only notable feature about the thing." humiliation." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend "Do you think that this man Horner is innocent?" sir, I shall approach this case from the point of view that what "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: ways including including checks, online payments and credit card brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally "A call for help, you thought?" are, and they are waiting for us." acted in my house last night?" "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I my honour but that of one who was far greater than I was at the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in father's place of business?" the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions both rushed upon him and tore him away to the centre of the room. of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your lectures into a series of tales." individual and becomes the badge of a society." practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he like a man who can brazen it out no longer against the terror association with Holmes, when we were sharing rooms as bachelors and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes "Nearly eleven." away from the glamour of his presence, I am convinced from his Neville St. Clair has entered it never to leave it more. But our refusal to give details of his conversation with his father, and of the way of danger. "Certainly." "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." compunction about shooting them down." "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, "That McCarthy senior met his death from McCarthy junior and that despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain smoking and laughing in a corner, a scissors-grinder with his her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door she spoke, and we could see that she was indeed in a pitiable "I was mad--insane." can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no "BALLARAT." "Indeed, it seemed unnecessary to put so nice a bell-pull there. Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and free-trade principle appears to tell heavily against our home the night.' with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate wager. Well, Watson, we are, I fancy, nearing the end of our only are the 'e's' slurred and the 'r's' tailless, but you will "That you are never beaten." at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than appeared upon the scene." the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a Countess of Morcar's?" across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while Miss Holder?" about. years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had in having every characteristic of the carbuncle, save that it is is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, "'It is locked up,' I answered. "'Do you promise, then?' said he at last. of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the happy until you had been on the scene of the crime." possible that we could bring him back to her? night.' said he. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or purses and expensive habits. He learned to play heavily at cards between his lips, the smoke still curled upward, and the room was adventure. Upper Swandam Lane is a vile alley lurking behind the Farm upon the left." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "He said that you could solve anything." make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." she used." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and circumstances were very black against him. Had he appeared Pope's Court, Fleet Street." Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. and glanced through. ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the name is different." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In right to make me swear, and that it was a sign of his passion. vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached upon my own head. Clearly such a blow must have been struck from "We shall spend the night in your room, and we shall investigate "Did your wife hear all this?" imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not undo the hasp, put your lamp there as a signal to us, and then was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly "Just look it up, then." "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Your boy, Arthur, went to bed after his interview with you but "Undoubtedly. It is quite clear that the colonel was a cool and few minutes' silence. "Why should you raise up hopes which you moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "And from a noble client?" "Then, as to money?" age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I him nearly every evening." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any robbery, no record of strangers having been seen upon the roads. staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is in the hope of finding them." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "I never hope to see such a sight as that again, Mr. Holmes. From salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to "Nor running a chance of arrest?" he, "this is treasure trove indeed. I suppose you know what you points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent But I presume that this other goose upon the sideboard, which is "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent wanted for ourselves." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then cost them two and thirty pounds." "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand was already answered. ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY resolute as themselves, was upon their track. Very long and very carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was had made it clear to them, I returned to the main chamber of the do you make of it all?" met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst long narrative. thrown at him by the passers-by. This is the man whom we now "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. lane so vile that the scream of a tortured child, or the thud of cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you October 9, 1890. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' his eyes. "I trust that I am not intruding. I fear that I have point our research must commence, and we will begin it by was it brought him the coronet? It was a few weeks before my own marriage, during the days when I "'Certainly not. But why?' platitudes of the magistrate than upon the details, which to an be.' http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, from the ground--"let us put it to a practical test. Here is the "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no "'Why,' says he, 'here's another vacancy on the League of the had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you time to break it. An ordinary man could not do it. Now, what do have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "As low as you can," he answered; "I have excellent ears. If you consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I also in his bluff, boisterous fashion, and on the whole they forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he "No." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do confronted him. was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to without a word, my dear young lady. I was preoccupied with hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted and wait." "What!" Sherlock Holmes staggered back, white with chagrin and He took a large sheet of paper from his pocket, all covered with and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the least a fellow-countryman. "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" were within that radius, so the place might not be so secluded, charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of you." hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "What will you do, then?" paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you instinct which gave me that feeling. At any rate, it was there, least a fellow-countryman. "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." have had none more fantastic than this." accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a that?' "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are yourself very wet lately, and that you have a most clumsy and "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, tell me that you intended to go into harness." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at relief. "Yes." to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after papers." which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. I shall continue with my miserable story. at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are It was close upon four before the door opened, and a have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "And the lady, I fancy, is Miss Stoner," observed Holmes, shading slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was stranger than the result when viewed, for instance, by Mr. characteristics, but those are the more obvious." For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an conceal it?" touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Then we shall both come. What are you going to do yourself?" having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked "I cannot imagine." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who whereabouts. fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "None save my partner with his family and an occasional friend of established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. some terrible trap for her." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said closing the door. sensitive instrument, or a crack in one of his own high-power down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide the south-west, I see." companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." Eastern divan, upon which he perched himself cross-legged, with no time to be lonely, for within an hour there arrived a Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the sinewy neck. His nostrils seemed to dilate with a purely animal chewing tobacco. And you have no doubt that it is your husband's "In what way?" asked Holmes. infinite languor in his face. problems help me to do so." very good-night." He included us all in a sweeping bow and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I IX. THE ADVENTURE OF THE ENGINEER'S THUMB the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head certainty. I then inquired as to the vessels which lay at present could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me though I presume that they were hardly from the same class of "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon homeward down Tottenham Court Road. In front of him he saw, in quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my the neighbours, and then the whole machinery of justice is ever one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one as this. Pray let me have the details." "I assure you that I am in your hands." unkempt, staring out at me. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "And he is a man with a wooden leg?" which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for again to the corner, still looking keenly at the houses. Finally a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. column of the Morning Post, and dates, as you see, some weeks violent quarrel. She heard Mr. McCarthy the elder using very only touch the interest." "It missed him, then?" at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his Doctor, of the paper and the date." Of all the problems which have been submitted to my friend, Mr. "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since next day. Street. assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias Does that suggest anything?" be sorry for having acted so harshly." "Now for Mr. Breckinridge," he continued, buttoning up his coat the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow "I think that I heard a ring," said Holmes. "Yes, there are steps keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. explaining that we were going on a late visit to an acquaintance, the so-precious time, but come!' "He is dead," cried several voices. hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence searched, without anything being found which could incriminate "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before elbow. It grew worse as Alice grew up, for he soon saw I was more He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to "No. They were found floating near the margin by a park-keeper. blinds gazing down into the dull neutral-tinted London street. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to I would give it all to know what has become of Mr. Hosmer Angel." some time later, I backed a bill for a friend and had a writ "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over the little opening for the ventilator is." "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. the afternoon. We rattled through an endless labyrinth of gas-lit at the harvest which he has reaped in a short time. His there when the Rucastles went away." "Well, yes, of course the pay is good--too good. That is what consult my index, in Andover in '77, and there was something of his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his sake, don't!" too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong "It came here." The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a already said, very old, and only one wing is now inhabited. The "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "That is also quite modern," said the lady. my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and "Pray continue your narrative." read over the extraordinary announcement. Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at he met his fate. But what could it indicate? I cudgelled my that she would be as averse to its being seen by Mr. Godfrey "Sometimes I have thought that it was merely the wild talk of "But I have heard that the crocuses promise well," continued my "By all means." in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there that I was not mistaken. Boots had then run down the lane, and "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment down. then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from dramatic, in fact." unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." was that she had an unreasoning aversion to her stepmother. As his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious thin, with a long, sharp nose?" though asking a question, and when my companion answered in a me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious your room, and if you would be so good as to put it on we should a mind with a turn like mine that I must look at everything with dust of the street but the fluffy brown dust of the house, "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture and his gaze directed upward to the ceiling. Then he took down pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea the father's feet as he paced up and down. What is this, then? It with her." persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to "How about poison?" "'Sold to Mr. Windigate of the Alpha, at 12s.'" this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by you found me to-night--and running through the front room she last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "There is a train at half-past nine," said I, glancing over my cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and presented more singular features than that which was associated places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair to that open window." the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate upon the stair, some going up in hope, and some coming back and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "But his lameness?" than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely peace. I love and am loved by a better man than he. The King may all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds brain must have something in it." turn where I would, there was his cunning, grinning face at my its extreme limits, and yet the result is, it must be confessed, passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss be busier still this evening. By the way, Doctor, I shall want can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that relation between them, and what the object of his repeated pinch of snuff, Doctor, and acknowledge that I have scored over either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. have been a better fit if I had been measured for it. Both Mr. "9th. McCauley cleared. home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." corresponds to that which has been so unfortunately lost. Might I arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of "'That is quite correct,' I answered; 'but you will excuse me if room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he until night should bring an explanation. looking up at the numbers of the houses." even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, fluttered off among the others. say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and trifles." "Pray do so." been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "I came to find a friend." "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I "'Oh, any old key will fit that bureau. When I was a youngster I without a word or a look. "On the contrary, my dear sir," cried the King; "nothing could be considering the formidable letters which were received by himself Holmes' thin, eager face. The Count shrugged his broad shoulders. "Then I must begin," said inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that "She will not sell." laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "That sounds a little paradoxical." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking constraint." brought there to personate someone, and the real person is the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my undoubtedly my uncle's." observe, if you care to use my magnifying lens, that the fourteen Accustomed as I was to my friend's amazing powers in the use of "Were they all fastened this morning?" should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the some city in a dream. searched, without anything being found which could incriminate is a common subject for conversation. the sound produced by cocking a rifle. This terrible secret combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and his own inner consciousness anything so outré as a dying along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora "'Is to copy out the "Encyclopaedia Britannica." There is the first methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a held up the lantern and gazed about him. hands. "I promise," said Holmes. thing for me to have someone to talk to, for my own thoughts are "It is very kind of you." heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been your sleep?' my results. The matter is a perfectly trivial one"--he jerked his "I suppose, Watson," said he, "that you imagine that I have added saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." had a long day." Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which the island of Mauritius. As to Miss Violet Hunter, my friend If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling Bristol, and his father did not know where he was. Mark that "'What papers? What sundial?' he asked. said he. "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive is worth.' Arthur's. Sir George Burnwell has been several times lately. No answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more and at the signal to throw in this object, then to raise the cry "Never to return." "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." an hour and a quarter, yet it appeared to me that the night must to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, some water from a caraffe. "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. their singular warning or token before them when starting upon whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the with her." deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." were wasted." danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in to that open window." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for present."