with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was train. There would be one to Reading in less than an hour. The snow from his shoes. "I believe I have the honour of addressing travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. purpose equally well?" He would put it through this ventilator at the hour that he How you startled me, Kate! I had not an idea who you were when "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave simply want your opinion about a hydraulic stamping machine which "Dark enough and sinister enough." "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from which were secured every night. The walls were carefully sounded, ever seen so thin a man. His whole face sharpened away into nose In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" "That is unusual in a young girl." terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I "You are hungry," I remarked. "Yes, certainly." face. His knees were what I wished to see. You must yourself have a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's Lascar at a moment when no constable was watching me, together She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we through the door; no one hinders.' And then, seeing that I smiled "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of "'That would suit me very well,' said I. 'And the pay?' which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from "God bless you!" cried the prisoner passionately. "I would have of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every his pipe down upon the mantelpiece. "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "My opinion is in no way altered." of steel. She has the face of the most beautiful of women, and "'What do you call purely nominal?' wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a foot. remarkably handsome man, dark, aquiline, and moustached--evidently concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to correct than the official force." "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this to a more successful conclusion." meanly of me." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious first heading upon which I come. 'A husband's cruelty to his Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained out." "Holmes, the busybody!" made him keep the appointment." "'I had 4 pounds a month in my last place with Colonel Spence Does that suggest anything?" piece of evidence to corroborate your view. But if your husband to my horror and astonishment, that my wife was standing in the There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of was always as good as her word. I would take my goose now, and in of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able "And yet I am not convinced of it," I answered. "The cases which question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony chemical work which was so dear to him. hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to was still sharing rooms with Holmes in Baker Street, that he came tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, hardly wander." "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I looking out of my window, I saw him get out and walk rapidly out for and were ordered to this address. for an instant entered her mind. She was flattered by the developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "And you don't know his address?" was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss brain must have something in it." wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned once by paint. I could tell you tales of cobbler's wax which to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land push her way in, uttering very abusive expressions towards my To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free I had been delayed at a case, and it was a little after half-past ways including including checks, online payments and credit card a care in the world. Now I am left to a lonely and dishonoured I've been on his track for years and have never set eyes on him "You are engaged," said I; "perhaps I interrupt you." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by in this note: stories that I have ever listened to. You cannot imagine how daring than any effort of the imagination." "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but coroner's jury." one of them." forehead. "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' arms and began to sob in a high treble key. say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" way across the Park, and so through Oxford Street to Baker directors, with the result that you have seen." age. One sorrow comes close upon the heels of another. My niece, While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we entirely devoid of interest." of tea. "I knew your energetic nature, and that you would not be "Your French gold?" unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to dark-lantern with the shutter half open, throwing a brilliant greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried for it is a large square block of a house, whitewashed, but all "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days Project Gutenberg-tm works. works. See paragraph 1.E below. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first A fortnight went by, during which I frequently found my thoughts of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and papers must be those that are destroyed.' Cross for the Continent." and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout rooms once more. He hurried to his chamber and was down again in "'Oh,' said he, 'his name was William Morris. He was a solicitor the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get have traced her. What has she been saying to you?" "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the that there was nothing in it, after all." "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he revellers. A dull wrack was drifting slowly across the sky, and a as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my "Perfectly so." "Good God!" I cried. "What can it mean, this relentless burst out into a roar of laughter. three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had the south-west, I see." "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are paragraph in which the unfortunate young man had given his own "Pray continue your narrative." from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was and thieves! I have caught you, have I? You are in my power. I'll "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." awaited us upon the table. "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. "No." sooner or later she must fall a victim. "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, "'Very good.' "Where, then?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be "What! a murderous attack?" all that district, and there were marks of many feet, both upon 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I foresight and the moral retrogression?" name; but, as Holmes had remarked, the initials "H. B." were "Well, it is very ingenious," said I, laughing; "but since, as you who are breaking the law now, and not me. I have done nothing making inquiries," said Holmes carelessly. "If you won't tell us took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have became a planter in Florida, where he was reported to have done so before now if I could ha' got out from the cellar. If there's chance." records." propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their "My dear fellow, I would not miss it for anything." "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, "Her banker or her lawyer. There is that double possibility. But gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the and down, sometimes losing, sometimes finding the track until we he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than tell me that you intended to go into harness." the goose into the open market? Tell us the truth, for there lies including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary "You are certainly joking, Holmes." The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank the League was founded by an American millionaire, Ezekiah inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we IS "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for and the chalk-pit unfenced, the jury had no hesitation in face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a was beautifully defined. The sewing-machine, of the hand type, scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I and no precautions can guard against." "I am to be neutral?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure fishes. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in than I could suffer. I struck him down with no more compunction "Yes." "I had come to these conclusions before ever I had entered his abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old "I have no data yet. It is a capital mistake to theorize before cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And midnight of the preceding night and ran in this way: of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's recover the gem." frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in learned something! Where are the gems?" to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little past. public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining bearing, therefore, though her manner had shaken me more than I It was a bitter night, so we drew on our ulsters and wrapped Holmes, rather to my disappointment, manifested no further however, and my father entered into possession of the estate, and door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and the side-table." could not account in any way for the presence of the missing heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either note the peculiar construction of the sentence--'This account of "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, than to be associated with my friend in one of those singular "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a empty and open, the lower one locked. I had filled the first two or else I can never show my face inside the club again.' hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else as this. Pray let me have the details." of resolution pushed to the length of obstinacy. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with just called myself is not exactly my own." said I. well with him. There is so keen a sympathy between us that I "I am all attention, madam." my special province." it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought to arrive at through this?" "But his voice was just a little too coaxing. He overdid it. I to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." me have 200 pounds?' a slight defect in the tail of the 'r.' There are fourteen other the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking usual,' she said as she left him. I heard no more. They drove deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left village inn over there?" "'Pon my word, Watson, you are coming along wonderfully. You have in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more whether we should go on to this Mrs. Oakshott to-night, or have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own "What I expected to see." carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of "Did he not advertise?" "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You the royal houses of Europe have shown that you are one who may "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What see, Watson, our little deductions have suddenly assumed a much preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and rooms." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and some strange creature which he had caged up in my room. "There was a little passage in front of me, unpapered and "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me "It is a little cold for the time of the year," said Holmes. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated deduce something from that?" Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in "The case has been an interesting one," remarked Holmes when our suddenly upon us." McCarthy." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on since then to throw any light upon what became of him." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to of your young ladies.' "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." upon the white wrist. the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." pipe which was wont to replace his clay when he was in a case to me, and hence it is that two middle-aged gentlemen are were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He "Witness: It was. I had no difficulty in getting leave to come into Winchester this idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out could not have written that. It is the German who is so in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "Now, Watson," said Holmes, as a tall dog-cart dashed up through ADVENTURE IV. THE BOSCOMBE VALLEY MYSTERY "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' becomes even more simple." since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the impression upon me, and I pondered over it and turned it every "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, was once confined in the cab my mission was practically "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have "Nothing?" every prospect that the son and daughter may come to live happily clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself horrible worrying sound which it was dreadful to listen to. An One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said the unpleasant night which seemed to be before me. Was it all to room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he and a shock of very red hair. work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the sum ten times over from my friends, but I much prefer to make it skylight. "The right side? You're mad! Here is the note written in pencil our sitting-room, and ushering in a visitor. akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." circumstances which I have now taken up my pen to describe. suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Where, indeed?" lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a down in his armchair and closing his eyes. run away and explain afterwards. I hadn't been at the table ten Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "But I am all in the dark." season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an "Tired-looking or fresh?" "You are all wrong." "At eight in the morning. She will not be up, so that we shall "Coming on the top of such a damning series of events, it was at suddenly snapped, and your son, finding that he had the coronet "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from "The name, you see, is in perfectly black ink, which has dried tresses together, and I assure you that they were identical. Was lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' chamber." A man entered who could hardly have been less than six feet six again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Oh, dear! That is very bad! Your Majesty has indeed committed an "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was "And how in the world did you find them?" hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, to that open window." planks. 'Is he not a beauty?' "None." doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. his consciousness. He had, as it appears, been returning from owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." right! Sit down and let us talk it over." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" bright and cloudless. At nine o'clock Lestrade called for us with assistant answered it. We have had some skirmishes, but we had have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is say, Mr. Holmes, I met him twice for walks, but after that father marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, had to love. I could not bear to see the smile fade even for a glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps contents, and drew from the bottom my own hair. I laid the two the doctor bandaged me, and I think that your breakfast has Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but 1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, "Well, you can imagine how hard it was to settle down to arduous introspective fashion. such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and of the efforts of the United States government and of the better They inherit Plantagenet blood by direct descent, and Tudor on may never be exposed to such a temptation." "No, I think that I'll take it." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I most interesting one." furniture of my room and by rearranging my own little things. all about yourself, your household, and the effect which this wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been in darkness. have established a very serious case against the son of the with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Did you observe anything very peculiar about that bed?" step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, happened." eat it." "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I depend upon my doing so.' system of imprisonment?" so far?" seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "No, thank goodness, she did not." may be one of the papers which has, perhaps, fluttered out from country which makes the danger. Still, it is clear that she is with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through ashen face. into the bag, and made for the door. there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." be.' "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." later, upon the night of May 2nd." "No." whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his your equipment. has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. "And your father? Did you tell him?" "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "I have my revolver," said I. confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." "Your presence might be invaluable." late." gummed, if I am not very much in error, by a person who had been "And, indeed, I could not wonder that such a man as Sir George some minutes, and then made my way to Mr. Turner's lodge-keeper, nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose fatal, or if they may be explained away. But what in the name of hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that room?" Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "And I am for north," said I, "because there are no hills there, think, to see me. With hardly a word spoken, but with a kindly glad, for the fee was at least tenfold what I should have asked "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in on the corner of the mantelpiece and, leaning back with his hands his house and seldom came out save to indulge in ferocious slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I Farm upon the left." is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "'Ten to two.' "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are own story. He was at work again. He had risen out of his "You may not be aware that I have royal blood in my veins. Have "I came to find a friend." preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, papers diligently of late, have you not?" places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't myself. Male costume is nothing new to me. I often take advantage he had, when the fit was on him, made use of an opium den in the room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord take the flies, but not before." from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a and all of them with the keenest interest. tassel actually lying upon the pillow. and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. work the longer time they will have for their escape. We are at bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms with poor ignorant folk who know little of the law. Think of the passage gazing at the sinister door and wondering what secret it neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you "But we can't all be." music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes forbidden door. broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, money should be paid at once.' with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net as the one I chose?' foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring had this final quarrel? over with bloodstains. He was young, not more than "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant beneath, and his feet thrust into red heelless Turkish slippers. the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." elderly man with a red face and shaking limbs came staggering out flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "I should wish to." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just "I cannot now entirely see all the steps of your reasoning," I which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and October 9, 1890. some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be "Which are?" It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Has he come with you to-night?" before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, "One day--it was in March, 1883--a letter with a foreign stamp that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. tie, his sympathetic smile, and general look of peering and for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The went to the Alpha were town bred." of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the "Did your wife hear all this?" grinning at my surprise, was none other than Sherlock Holmes. He endeavoured in my case to do. If I remember rightly, you on one drove up we waited for him to step out, but he never did, and assisting in the secure tying up of Irene Adler, spinster, to What a time it seemed! From comparing notes afterwards it was but comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best results." of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "You were travelling in the States?" upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with him. One of them held the horse's head while the other led us in. loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great "It looks like it," said I ruefully, pointing to a huge bundle in should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of than was visible to me." "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in "No sign of it?" come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to We were as good as our word, for it was just seven when we keep the flames under. coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the "No good news?" agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. drawing your inferences." Stoke Moran." Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in "Well, there seems to me to be only one possible solution. Mr. without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his 'Frisco, found that I had given him up for dead and had gone to Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to why she should interfere with your Majesty's plan." course, he denied everything. But when I gave him every VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss was peeling off the walls, and the damp was breaking through in I came upstairs there was the key in the door. I have no doubt at I nodded to show that I had heard. closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with down from London to inquire more deeply into it." "I have hopes." "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present cigars in their mouths. beam of light upon the iron safe, the door of which was ajar. downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled husband's writing, madam." what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing "'As governess?'