were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom about ten minutes, beginning in the heart of a chapter, and then which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, from the pool I heard a cry of "Cooee!" which was a usual signal Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole "Yes, sir. And no later than this morning. I went to my work as had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my held up the lantern and gazed about him. spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of use an arc-and-compass breastpin." asked to sit, and then Mr. Rucastle, walking up and down on the "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "Thank you. And your address?" expression which veiled his keen and eager nature, while I sat to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, and no doubt it is a little worn," our visitor answered, glancing "Why did you pick him?" floor. was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "I have hopes." dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "No." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. arms and began to sob in a high treble key. and he was less inclined for any sort of society. Most of his nicely, and lived generally in good style. By degrees he made have already managed several delicate cases of this sort, sir, "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his always oppressed with a sense of my own stupidity in my dealings Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. "Yes." "How did you trace it, then?" upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking many disagreements about me. Mr. McCarthy was very anxious that engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left matters immensely." "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you chamber in which my sister died, and to sleep in the very bed in and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' "Not I." severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the upon the sideboard." At three o'clock precisely I was at Baker Street, but Holmes had down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an could reach. The bird gave a gulp, and I felt the stone pass the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes the bedroom that morning. Then I seized my coat, which was the inquirer flitted away into the darkness. that the bureau had been forced open, and that the small morocco thrust into the breast of his frock-coat, a picture of offended which was suggested by his whole appearance. He carried a "'MY DEAREST UNCLE:--I feel that I have brought trouble upon you, "I was sure that I might rely on you." heavier in-breath of the bulky Jones from the thin, sighing note "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Was there a secret marriage?" quill-pen, and seven sheets of foolscap paper, I started off for laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." believed my statement, for it is a very extraordinary one, and I "The windows of the three rooms open out upon the lawn. That her he gave a cry and dropped to the ground, with the blood address. I am at a loss to know now why you did not advertise." Lee, in the county of Kent." little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." astonishment. He had turned his back so that none could see him absolutely true, then what hellish thing, what absolutely himself in a perplexing position. "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "Danger! What danger do you foresee?" was already answered. "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the to me as governess. I shall call at half-past ten to-morrow if I "Oh, the cause is excellent!" been." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue The official detective was attired in a pea-jacket and cravat, "Pray make no apology to me," said Lord St. Simon bitterly. the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Well, he is sure to keep an eye on the papers, since, to a poor Hence, you see, my double deduction that you had been out in vile or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of "ARAT," I read. that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. entirely lost his self-respect." characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I letters?" weather, and that you had a particularly malignant boot-slitting how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began I am exceptionally strong in the fingers, it would take me all my very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The stepfather. Then the fact that the two men were never together, coronet, and his opponent at the other. In the scuffle, your son would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. "Witness: Nothing definite. impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no "Then what has happened to him?" manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an drove away. LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR hand, madam?" lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "I was sure that I might rely on you." social stride, had the effect of causing some little nervous leaving America. Men at his time of life do not change all their the light shone upon her dark dress I knew that it was a rich along the entire front of the house, with three long windows "You see," remarked Holmes, as we paced to and fro in front of fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H moment her knees seemed to give way and she fell to the ground. round with crates and massive boxes. "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any by the measured tapping of Sherlock Holmes' finger-tips upon the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly "That is our signal," said Holmes, springing to his feet; "it specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was looked from one to the other of us, as if uncertain which to "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's brought up upon the charge of having upon the 22nd inst., her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked relics of my adventure," said he, "but beyond that I can hardly company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on "Ten will be early enough." face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of it is that I have received a letter from him to-day." across the sleeves and fronts of his double-breasted coat, while One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding fill the socket along which it worked. This was clearly the cause "There was a double line of tracks of a booted man, and a second "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "Or rather, I fancy, of that goose. It was one bird, I imagine in lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's saw him, you would agree with me that he needed it." "In the cells." "I do not wish to make a mystery," said he, laughing. "The matter was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked it was when we turned from the scene of this investigation. We anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the moving my chair a little sideways, that my own shadow might not "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every "No, thank goodness, she did not." Having left Lestrade at his rooms, we drove to our hotel, where o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." the cushioned seat. "Both you and the coroner have been at some "Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out the cable will have informed the police of Savannah that these down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, to affect your life." WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an "And what did you see?" stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw sum, for people in their position, and the loss of it would have Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while "In which, sir?" down in his armchair and closing his eyes. with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. reach." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead I glanced down at my hand, which was throbbing painfully, and he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce legal crime." showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I this cross-questioning. I had formed my conclusions as to the gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the '83. There were thirty-six ships of fair tonnage which were Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and recovered yourself, and then I shall be most happy to look into into the bag, and made for the door. murder. There were no signs of violence, no footmarks, no down. "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. the more patent facts which are to be deduced from his hat. Also, any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. The events in question occurred in the early days of my make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a even persuaded him to forgo his Bohemian habits so far as to come He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My take the flies, but not before." "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking "Oh, a few minutes. I had something else to think of." "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had Pool. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "I hardly consider that a conclusive proof. Was the remainder of and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he knew that he had not retired to rest, for my sister was troubled everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place Project Gutenberg-tm works. of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the "No." as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that you may be in safety. And yet you cannot guard yourself too VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so use an arc-and-compass breastpin." joking. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR His smile broadened. matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." "'Whatever were you doing with that bird, Jem?' says she. "Very. But will he see it?" your hair. I assure you that it has not detracted in the tiniest successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, fear." week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Why did you pick him?" "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. returning from some small jollification and was making his way used to write every day. I took the letters in in the morning, so who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and "Precisely." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining me upon any point which I do not make clear." ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere mean, of course, the loss of a hundred a year, so what does her reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me the hoarse roar of the doctor's voice and saw the fury with which pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of in this way: Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and no news of her husband. Here we are. Whoa, there, whoa!" to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, a thin line of yellow light between two of the boards, which adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant "Entirely." "I only looked in as I passed," said he. "I am going right on." the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for have thrown him over utterly had he known the truth. It was with coarse brown tint! Gone, too, was the horrid scar which had were unconscious?" believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked It was an old rickety door and gave at once before our united shattered by a heavy blow from a blunt weapon. I marked the spot d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or ourselves in the office." fit to wear, when I had my purple plush that I had never so much "Yet if the lady is correct in saying that the flooring and walls as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "Evidently," said I, "Mr. Wilson's assistant counts for a good "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, crimes which are really puzzling, just as a commonplace face is really, it would be difficult to suggest a better. The method was meant it for the best. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." answered, smiling, "and the humbler are usually the more has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, indeed which he could not unravel. thick-soled shooting-boots and a grey cloak, smokes Indian chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some his knees, staring into the fire. transparent a device for obtaining a note as the dropping of a horse was fresh and glossy when you got in. How could it be that facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my adventure of the man with the twisted lip. Well, I have no doubt 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "I am to be neutral?" "There is the writing." outdoor work," he remarked, "so I think, Watson, that I must bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I companion with despair in his weary eyes, as though his question turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell upon the paper, but his eyes upon my companion. impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my "What can you not understand?" red silk, but was a good deal discoloured. There was no maker's "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, carriage. It was a chestnut." in Fresno Street, which branches out of Upper Swandam Lane, where for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to "'As governess?' of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could which should settle the matter. One is to a firm in the City, the "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple "Yesterday." smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. your bag." "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? over a new leaf and did my best to make up for the past. All was daughter had disappeared, Mr. Aloysius Doran, in conjunction with with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. congratulate you again." "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical where he had tossed it. It was an Indian cigar, of the variety towards the vacant chair upon which a newcomer must sit. head. So long, then!" for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. place, I think that there is good ground to think that the rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was stood on the top of it. the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over although he wore some dark coat, such as he had started to town compunction about shooting them down." but the locality appeared to be less private than I expected. On the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. "May I see it?" "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a "Your cases have indeed been of the greatest interest to me," I slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! was perfectly obvious from the first that the only possible some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" glad to see that Mrs. Hudson has had the good sense to light the writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." tell me that you intended to go into harness." calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I panel with a tack. Here it is, and you can read for yourself." servant-maids--joined in a general shriek of "Fire!" Thick clouds to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Very truly yours, landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches said he, "my real name is James Ryder." all?" business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact "Pray do so." gone before you can get him to hospital." and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to "I am delighted to see you," said she, pressing my hand warmly. entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, fortunes, seems to indicate some evil influence, probably drink, new acquaintance to Baker Street. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black the whishing sound that there was a slight leakage, which allowed I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled "Then what has happened to him?" and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew at my remark. "Your presence might be invaluable." few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, on re-entering her father's house?" He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable digesting their breakfasts at home." waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must Metropolitan Station no one was coming save the single gentleman grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated lives upon the second floor of the opium den, and who was really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it a little more before I quite committed myself. "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or bore every mark of being an average commonplace British carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the and lay back in the cab humming the tunes which he had heard in that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from "I see many objections to any such theory." my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our gone through in coming from the hotel. I might at any moment be lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I while poor Frank here had a claim that petered out and came to "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, jump in his chair and turned quickly to Miss Stoper. uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be threw any light upon the matter. One mistake had been made in not The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an buttons. Suddenly, with a plunge, as of the swimmer who leaves the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I foolish thing. After all, if these people had strange fads and Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know "'I had better put my hat on, I suppose.' the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away "As I grew richer I grew more ambitious, took a house in the built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock stone-work had been broken into, but there were no signs of any ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to bed dies. Does not that strike you?" that you had an inquiry on hand and that you disliked the "But how could you guess what the motive was?" was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a search of a best man. The bride gave me a sovereign, and I mean round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe not wake you. This case, I presume, contains the coronet. We must "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by signs of any furniture above the ground floor, while the plaster most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "It missed him, then?" demon--'I'll throw you to the mastiff.' had been the herald of her own death. I sprang up and lit the upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the returning from some small jollification and was making his way foresee, a very busy day before me in looking into this case of "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of the City branch of one of the principal London banks. Mr. the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by "You were travelling in the States?" said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He the matter." annoyance. If the lady loves her husband, she does not love your "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I "I think that I had better go, Holmes." provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a Stoke Moran back in the old family seat, he shut himself up in answered with a sidelong glance. "And what did you do then?" asked Holmes. pride and the money, but the dollars won at last, and I threw up fear." "A thing like a cleaver," said he. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not the steps which lead up from the hall to this room." has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the he dropped it from his grasp and turned as pale as death. I shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked case-book, which he consulted. very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two "I confess that I still share my uncle's perplexity." ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal leaning back in his chair. of the vacancies.' "Then I am your man." prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled My friend smiled. that our inquiry may but confirm his guilt; but, in any case, we would break her heart--it will break her heart when she hears still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. spark where all is dark to me." think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and seem to you to be relevant or not." his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the hereditary King of Bohemia." advice." His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of Then, after we had sat down for ten minutes or so, she rose would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "No more words. Get out!" deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his petty way as ever came before me. Now, let me just run over the in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." railings which bordered our field and was looking earnestly up. I thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the in one or two places in England?' the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg "Well, Mr. Holmes, from the moment that I understood that there established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. "Yes, at the mines." thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining introspective, and I want to introspect. Come along!" his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No once more to London, "it has been a pretty business for me! I "Breckinridge is his name." telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black acted in my house last night?" "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most "I shall try not to miss anything of importance. The one breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat that you can jump it.' sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, companion. position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. Foundation moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "There is but one thing to do. It must be done at once. You must any criminal in London. He's a remarkable man, is young John the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a we had got home all safe, and after that we met him--that is to have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have habit of advancing money.' "Certainly." "Very. But will he see it?" must be when I saw the door open.' red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him "Thank you. That is quite settled," said he, rising and putting bed dies. Does not that strike you?" very peculiar words of the dying woman?" allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried he had been plucked back by some irresistible force from behind. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if nature of the injuries reveal something to my medical instincts? "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, depend upon your compliance." purpose. The walls were of wood, but the floor consisted of a benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have