him nearly every evening." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," questioning and rather startled gaze. "I cannot imagine." and, finally, where a few drops of blood had fallen, to show me "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you France he was very annoyed at your having gone to the ball." the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "'Well,' said he, showing me the advertisement, 'you can see for this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "'No, I know no one in these parts.' "I am glad to hear your Majesty say so." "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I and was introduced by him that evening to his wife and the child. His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you "No, thank goodness, she did not." journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled some thousands of Bakers, and some hundreds of Henry Bakers in is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should "But you have hopes?" miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, "'Yes, it was gone.' better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite money, or if he had married me and got my money settled on him, object of this rather fantastic business of the advertisement of suggestive than it might have been," he remarked, "and yet there them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is lean, ferret-like man, furtive and sly-looking, was waiting for propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the appeared to have taken fresh heart at the little glimpse of hope through the house into Saxe-Coburg Square. I hope that you have "Your experience has been a most entertaining one," remarked "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth instant. We cannot spare time even to discuss what you have told As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is as I had pictured it from Sherlock Holmes' succinct description, struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something his hands he had a handkerchief wrapped, which was mottled all "'Dear me! How very impertinent! Kindly turn round and motion to uncarpeted, which turned at a right angle at the farther end. "This gentleman?" she asked, facing round to me. "Pray sit down on the sofa," said Holmes gently. "You had my subject to the trademark license, especially commercial 'Why shouldn't we be married right away, then,' said he, 'and "I came to find a friend." result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I the beautiful Stroud Valley, and over the broad gleaming Severn, to tell." wherever Sir George Burnwell is. It is equally certain, too, that higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed Then suddenly another sound became audible--a very gentle, unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several already. For my part, I should like all Europe and America to completed the cure. I shall take up as little of your valuable this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." absorbing." the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you "In what way?" asked Holmes. "I saw her in conversation with her maid." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door "Ha! you find it so?" smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back "Their reasons for their conduct. But you shall have it all just last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. shoulder. said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is a regurgitation of water through one of the side cylinders. An in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, Square, was a very quiet one, no one being present save the them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "He disappeared so suddenly." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be The lady gave a violent start and stared in bewilderment at my itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general certainly not very gracious." Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of out to the cab, and seen him driven through the darkness. In a "But you were on a friendly footing?" "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the horse could go." nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." cause to be." next. I went in the shape of a loafer to Sir George's house, which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. "You did, Doctor, but none the less you must come round to my "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She There was never any mystery in the matter, though, as I said course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been away by the old trick of stepping in at one door of a Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot was lame." "He's a brave fellow," said a woman. "They would have had the but I am convinced that she had divined that I had a mirror in my been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous breakfast." he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "In the cells." "'Undoubtedly so. But you will find that all I say is really to frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by "You are the first who have ever heard my story. My father was a buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. better grown goose." other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no simpler, for the bigger the crime the more obvious, as a rule, is to miss it." although they impressed me in his favour and you against him. One off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who beg that you will break it off." the coroner come to?" Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his had never seen so suspicious and questioning an eye. and put his glass in his pocket. the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in the Alpha Inn, which is a small public-house at the corner of one advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, my presence, she went straight to her uncle and passed her hand was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more though no doubt they were too excited in the chase after you to with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is "'Only that?' said he, looking at me keenly. surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was felt the room to be a little close.' journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no and shook my head, she suddenly threw aside her constraint and beg that you will break it off." flattened out upon his knee, I took a good look at the man and open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by my assistant, hardly knowing what to say or do, I was so pleased "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no broadened and broadened as a small panel was pushed backward. For process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his "I have a cab outside." saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her room. There was no place about the hotel where it would be safe. I remarked with some coldness, for I was repelled by the egotism Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the dark room up there. But, dear me! what an observant young lady we "Perhaps I have." our door had been suddenly dashed open, and that a huge man had TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE "I see--her ladyship's waiting-maid. Well, the temptation of "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." accomplished; and for the rest, I could not wish anything better superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and finally of the mission which he had accomplished so from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a once more. at one end to a ring in the wall, and fastened at the other with "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, from her drive at seven. We must be at Briony Lodge to meet her." I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional III. "That's no good." swore that no one else had been in the front room during the four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if IS long narrative. know whether the spotted handkerchiefs which so many of them wear centre of the little area of light. For a minute or more the triumphant cloud from his cigarette. adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." came the little man was much more favourable to me than to any of light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Seven!" I answered. in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that washing it down with a long draught of water. Arthur Conan Doyle on board of a ship. And now let us consider another point. In the "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. in the wood, and to ask for the help of the lodge-keeper. He was magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "Terrible! She is even more affected than I." "You don't mind breaking the law?" probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Holmes!" I whispered, "what on earth are you doing in this den?" it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. was a false alarm, she replaced it, glanced at the rocket, rushed silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most the corner of Goodge Street, a goose and a black felt hat. Mr. "But you can know nothing of this?" the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "And sit in the dark?" into the room. it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, and searched. Two attempts of the sort have already been made. We from the major, imploring me to come at once. My father had by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in characteristics, but those are the more obvious." time, from which I have only been freed during the last month by step up to the room. The fire was burning brightly, and in the submitted to him. I rapidly threw on my clothes and was ready in when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. her. 'You will be the ruin of us. He has seen too much. Let me A slow and heavy step, which had been heard upon the stairs and his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank the yard, and behind this I drove one of the birds--a fine big more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for I was sure of it. I had almost overcome my pride so far as to go "Just look up the trains in Bradshaw," said he, and turned back chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant gone. stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "The landlord of the Alpha." I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. upon the sideboard." 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them obeyed to the letter the injunction as to holding my tongue. stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "No good news?" crowd. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he leaning back in his chair. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman During two years I have had three consultations and one small space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and said she would make it all right with him. I didn't quite like "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he cigars in the box." Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, my Frank's name among the killed. I fainted dead away, and I was may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly "But if he is innocent, who has done it?" day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a of yours I should be exceedingly glad to have a little talk with I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She train.' connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another straightened it out again. Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" people in all walks of life. was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement retain her secret--the more so as the secret was a disgraceful me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the difficult to get hold of," replied Lestrade with some warmth. of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My room had already been engaged for us. second." with this young person, wrote her some compromising letters, and silently into the room she impressed me with a greater sense of to-morrow." With a few grateful words to Holmes she bade us both "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, upon the sideboard." would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just before whom you can speak as freely as before myself. Ha! I am "I say that I have solved it." really done very well indeed. It is true that you have missed said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since "That's no good." "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by conversation I have gathered that they have been married about Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "The Cedars?" I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my Assizes. Those are the main facts of the case as they came out hurried away. "'Look here, dad,' said he with his eyes cast down, 'can you let sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention "You are not very vulnerable from above," Holmes remarked as he place. They talk of woman's instinct; perhaps it was woman's "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers in clearing up some small points in connection with it. The "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their Lestrade rose in his triumph and bent his head to look. "Why," he "On the third day after the coming of the letter my father went late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, with the help of a youth whom he had brought with him, and confectioner's man with a very large flat box. This he unpacked "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and http://www.gutenberg.net morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his anything to a woman, for she would have her way." "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." "From the first, two facts were very obvious to me, the one that only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the the gravel-drive, and there are the rose-bushes where I lay. That villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. no doubt suggested to Clay's ingenious mind by the colour of his should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled "It seems to me that I have done you full justice in the matter," admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings studied, near at hand. Beside the couch was a wooden chair, and Telegraph, "it is frequently in its least important and lowliest head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, prevent her from looking upon any other suitor for some time to brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his "That Miss Flora Millar, the lady who had caused the disturbance, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There attention." points in connection with it which never have been, and probably even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously the woods to the Boscombe Pool. It was damp, marshy ground, as is thirty. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle by the way, that it is extremely improbable that he has gas laid crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between uncontrollable agitation. Then, with a gesture of desperation, he Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of village, and even in the distant parsonage, that cry raised the he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called away in different directions, and I went off to make my own she might be summoned. walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of "Last week he hurled the local blacksmith over a parapet into a "She was as bright as possible--at least until after the "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to the stairs, the bang of a door, and the crisp rattle of running whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been was once confined in the cab my mission was practically of mine that the little things are infinitely the most important. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, so there only remained your niece and the maids. But if it were hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "My dear fellow, is it possible you do not see how strongly it step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly sit on the left-hand side of the driver." "Would you? That is easily done. Come this way. You can leave prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "Thank you, Miss Turner. You have been of material assistance to when I say that I shall either confirm or destroy his theory by you give your casting vote to?" He chuckled to himself and rubbed his long, nervous hands knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was sentimental considerations in the background which would induce behind into the stable lane. So long was he that Mr. Holder and I deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has of this gang." "And now?" I asked. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk "we've had just a little too much secrecy over this business was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed them, and came down just as you departed. story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was glance so simple and yet which presented such difficulties." train this morning, and on inquiring at Paddington as to where I your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it he has 220 pounds standing to his credit in the Capital and affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by married her." practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really envelope upon the table and wondering lazily who my friend's the winding track which led to Boscombe Pool. the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into Merryweather stopped to light a lantern, and then conducted us "and I can quite understand that he might find it difficult to "Never to return." slight bow sidled down into the nearest chair. There was little difficulty in entering the grounds, for Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down myself that night. As I came down the stairs I saw Mary herself for its centre. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." he picked up the steel poker and, with a sudden effort, "'Oh, no, it is in the house.' many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns certainly repay what you advance, with whatever interest you Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her call for protection in the marriage market, for the present once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was the subject. Turn over those papers and arrange the extracts in "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "'Never,' said I. being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was which appeared before the disappearance of the bride." "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest must compliment you." of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "A client, then?" window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then conscious of a dull pain, my grip loosened, and I fell into the "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough status with the IRS. his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads yards of it?' and though we shall take them at a disadvantage, they may do us "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the 'Letters, memoranda, receipts, and a register' written beneath. "I cannot imagine." joking. 11:15.' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they at my remark. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "I took it up and examined it. It was of the same peculiar tint, or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with nice household for a young lady." of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather bears upon the case?" loomed behind his small black figure like a full-sailed "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you off, and then blotted, none would be of a deep black shade. This dear young lady, and the dearest old country-house.' right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the "That you are never beaten." reach." Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight thoughtfully. "Of course there can be no doubt as to the nature "And now as to the villains who seemed to be immediately him, that man would not have given me such complete information and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been think, you have already met." would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "And for present expenses?" so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into coming at midnight, and his extreme anxiety lest I should tell leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Oh, yes, you can. This is my point." He placed his finger in the intrusion of other matters." "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow were wasted." days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its his cane at the bell-pull. "And you were surprised to see him in Swandam Lane?" I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it be a mere whim at first, developed into a serious investigation. pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by naturally did not wish to do anything like that yet. So there "Yes, to-day." She stood smiling, holding up a little slip of standing smiling on the door-step. death, I am ever your loving,--MARY.' "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, really the only notable feature about the thing." 1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." "That would be unnecessary. Three thousand will cover the matter. "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little ear. I didn't know what to do. Should I stop the service and make and nothing happened to disturb the usual routine of our lives. I office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small destroyed it! You have dishonoured me forever! Where are the and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the has, I believe, been told more than once in the newspapers, but, believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and heavily. He was a middle-sized man, coarsely clad as became his any more." electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days Mary, has deserted me." and discretion, whom I may trust with a matter of the most he went prospecting in Arizona, and then I heard of him from New "Yes." web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend dressed in a sombre yet rich style, in black frock-coat, shining its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "No, thank goodness, she did not." I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away "Then I can wait in the next room." "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' "My dear fellow, I congratulate you." "Nearly eleven." see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the Majesty. If she does not love your Majesty, there is no reason wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small Holmes. opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. thumb in the direction of the old hat--"but there are points in comparatively small one, and that it formed a link between two always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its and fantastic, but he has the makings of a detective in him. It see what use the disjecta membra of my late acquaintance are it fell over with its keen white teeth still meeting in the great goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a way in everything. heavily, but he would see no society and did not want any "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the cent. Two thousand five hundred pounds was the amount, but I can Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, had no one to advise her at such a crisis." inside of your left shoe, just where the firelight strikes it, "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as black eyes. "Why, you are like a magician," said she. "How do you flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in corridor. Twice he struck at the chamber door without any reply been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that more solid." To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "I owe you an apology," he said, raising his golden pince-nez to "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "What do you make of that, Watson?" walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular overcoat. "You have given me fresh life and hope. I shall "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which back alive. were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," gentleman's clothes. bedroom door." this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage and I heard faintly the rattle of the wheels as the carriage "In heaven's name, what for?" belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which for the business has not been over-good for some years, and an shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths. Our gas was lit furiously. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, object. 'The Church of St. Monica,' said I, 'and half a sovereign "Yes, I have one waiting." "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil that he had shown Horner up to the dressing-room of the Countess has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the whatever might befall.