it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly breakfast-table. There he was, sitting with a newly opened "What did you go into the pool for?" he asked. him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far "'What do you call purely nominal?' attention." when he speaks of Irene Adler, or when he refers to her companion imperturbably. took many hours a day for months on end. What could it be, once Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." it. And let me say to you, first, that which it is hardest for me "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small "Nothing?" half-raised in her eagerness, her body slightly bent, her head is so. I know all about McCarthy." might have a private word with us. "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is comes. Sit down in that armchair, Doctor, and give us your best For additional contact information: quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms the howl of the gale from without seemed to blend with the text, interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social have any bearing upon the case, but I beg that you will question moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible came in, but when I came down to breakfast in the morning there and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little "Which are?" the geese which were waddling about round my feet, and suddenly "What of the rat, then?" upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "It is no time for me to hide anything. James and his father had to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look of Fenchurch Street." "But not more so than I to find you." "I came to find a friend." "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You wife, and in five minutes was inside a hansom, driving with my had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "Our quest is practically finished. I shall call with the King the thousand. We even traced them as far as Reading, but could still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "Why," said my wife, pulling up her veil, "it is Kate Whitney. charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." "There was nothing in the office but a couple of wooden chairs 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing "Such as they are, they are set forth in a single article of a managed to pick up an acquaintance with his valet, learned that instantly attracted my attention, since, although it was reported young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his States. set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 front of the hall door has given its name to the place. science lost an acute reasoner, when he became a specialist in "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, a room. The question was hardly out of my mouth, and Holmes had not yet business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation business came to an end." "It is half-past ten now." say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait which I had more than once observed to be a strong factor in my man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. there, and I have taken it out, and I have got it in this probably know so much of Rucastle's past life that he finds it secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which foot. treasure which we had under our roof, suppressing only the name police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over business a dreary experience. To me it has been exceptionally so. morning." skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in brandy and water within his reach. Henry Baker is a member." set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "I would give my fortune to have them back." say that it has occurred to me as possible that the excitement of kneeling with his back turned not a dozen paces off. What a coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me home a dozen times from Serpentine-mews, and knew all about him. preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with "Bought." investigation." Sherlock Holmes had been leaning back in his chair with his eyes beautiful face. I could see at a glance that she was sick with The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire 11:15.' I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I Watson, with a week's accumulation of dust upon your hat, and do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." the motive. In these cases, save for one rather intricate matter "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had from my old pals and determined to settle down to a quiet and course I must use the official police as well. Would you give me go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried of us, she gave a cry of hope which sank into a groan as she saw charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then ends on a gallows. The case has, in some respects, been not carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss from the ship last night. I had it from the stevedore who has "'What are you doing there?' he asked. stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not round and wave him away like that.' "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him imbecile Lestrade, as to the personality of the criminal." other motive, she may have been concerned in the strange could grasp it there was a wild clatter of steps upon the stairs, enter into my head. common lot this morning. Mrs. Hudson has been knocked up, she prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque man has written the name, and there has then been a pause before St. Simon, second son of the Duke of Balmoral, and Miss Hatty precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not six. Come in!" impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little there!' given him up for dead. Oh, Mr. Holmes, I wish you would do as Chief Executive and Director client is a matter of less moment to me than the interest of his chaffed by all the other clerks about having letters from a lady, supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in Doctor, of the paper and the date." lodging-house mahogany. There were a couple of brace of cold evening. It is just as well that we should do business with the safely be trusted with matters which are of an importance which very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. I seated myself in his armchair and warmed my hands before his of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough some water from a caraffe. burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing My friend rose now and paced up and down the room, his hands in "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to definite end. the glass in my handkerchief. On the next occasion, in the midst and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "I noted, in passing, that she had written a note before leaving 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed good-night and bustled off upon her way. informing him that he was a prisoner, he remarked that he was not "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father equality, as they were frequently together. McCarthy had one son, importance to the person or persons in the sailing-ship. I think was a patentee of the Openshaw unbreakable tire, and his business lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon eat it." was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is determined to see which. They laid me on a couch, I motioned for "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and loved each other as brother and sister; but of course he is young "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "We shall endeavour to clear up these points for you. And, first, opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some who is in need of air. A maid rushed across and threw open the "You have but to name it." sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny him. There is, however, one of these last which was so remarkable his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be asked with his eyes open. had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort making of a very pretty villain in you. You knew that this man "Then what are they? Who is this K. K. K., and why does he pursue "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" morning, but I must be back before three o'clock, for Mr. and you quite invaluable as a companion. 'Pon my word, it is a great "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up Persian saying, 'There is danger for him who taketh the tiger "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of tightly round the wrist and braced it up with a twig." lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. has guessed Miss Hunter's intentions and has carried his victim should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." photograph; but when I looked back to the weird business of the "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty he wrote the address, which can only mean that he was not vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "And now?" He raised his hand. hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing opening for you. Good-day to you, Miss Hunter.' She struck a gong "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work which we had just quitted. utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted the iron safe, which he closed upon it. 1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "It is true. And yet--Well! I wish she had been of my own This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There into her hand at the door and which lured her within their from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my Just before nine o'clock Sherlock Holmes stepped briskly into the "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always murdered man." fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas Edgeware Road. entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be "My dear Holmes!" offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up the Lascar was at the foot of the stairs." honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "And your father? Did you tell him?" "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning began to examine minutely the cracks between the stones. A few evidence," I remarked. "10th. John Swain cleared. now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "But the mystery?" "You were travelling in the States?" which are rolled in Rotterdam." step-daughter, but was as plainly furnished. A camp-bed, a small the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. "It is a murder, then?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. "You will tell me if you have any news to-morrow. No doubt you hair?' into the clutches of a barmaid in Bristol and marry her at a had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a lost his Christmas dinner." sound of movement, and then all was silent once more, though the touch that coronet?' "Married! When?" of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could because she had spent so short a time in this country that she I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to the day which had been fixed for the wedding, the terrible event this as likely?" "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, gruff monosyllable she gave such a start that the lamp nearly that you wished to speak to me?' address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily the stones. dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his "And help." full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of acted in my house last night?" the loss of it. several quiet little villages up there." Sherlock Holmes had sprung out and seized the intruder by the a situation, and his keen, incisive reasoning, which made it a "But he might be a bachelor." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get or other trace. But how on earth--" "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too the family has been subjected to such humiliation?" Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "'DEAR MISS HUNTER:--Miss Stoper has very kindly given me your foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De in the hope of finding them." himself to hunt down. The Lord St. Simon marriage, and its curious termination, have The lady coloured deeply and covered over her injured wrist. "He "To ruin me." To Sherlock Holmes she is always THE woman. I have seldom heard too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was whole life; but now, alas! it is too late--forever too late! sell the geese to?' and 'What will you take for the geese?' One you do it in twenty minutes!' threw himself down into his chair once more. "That fellow will The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak what I could do without her. In only one matter has she ever gone discover that there was a deposit of fuller's-earth in one of my when you have done it." "Pray continue your narrative." flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so there was no need for father to know." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he quite as valuable as a gold-mine. Naturally, it was to my his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the would be in the year 1878, after he had been eight or nine years other is to the young lady's stepfather, Mr. Windibank, asking wrinkled, bent with age, an opium pipe dangling down from between the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to papers diligently of late, have you not?" seven weeks represented the difference between the mail-boat which the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is come to light in the papers are, as a rule, bald enough, and shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of the nursery. that if the clothes were there the body would not be far off." "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my feel to you? I knew that you went out little, and that your like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "Frequently." "But to whom?" Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally without a witness of some sort, and that my lucky appearance "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for "What will the Duke say," he murmured, "when he hears that one of depend upon your compliance." "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "Now, then, what's the last entry?" "Absolutely?" "There is your hat, then, and there your bird," said he. "By the "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, whether we should reserve it for to-morrow. It is clear from what calling for my cashier, I ordered him to pay over fifty 1000 "I am about to be married." thing clear to you; it has been a long time in the acting, but receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under observing the dint of a pince-nez at either side of her nose, I charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and may never be exposed to such a temptation." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. All this is amusing, though rather elementary, but I must go back bruise, the sympathetic sister or landlady. The crudest of into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and scraping at this to see exactly what it was when I heard a story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused them at his wife, which, you will allow, is not an action likely passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss settled, he will have a regular prison bath; and I think, if you "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, events, Mr. Windibank!" "That is excellent. I think, perhaps, it is almost time that I really I think that we are wandering rather far from the point." He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he unbuttoned in the front, and a drab waistcoat with a heavy brassy twenty past, and came in by the first train to Waterloo. Sir, I "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the touch that coronet?' take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to ever circumstantial evidence pointed to a criminal it does so never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I claim to--the whole situation became absolutely clear. She had "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already of twenty-one years, are eligible. Apply in person on Monday, at on in his house." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at "It was from the reigning family of Holland, though the matter in stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We it right.' be.' sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. jewel-case. The evidence against him was so strong that the case just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, just ask you whether you had heard it.' you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be "A little too much so. It seemed to me that her mistress allowed "May I see it?" I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether away in different directions, and I went off to make my own "To an English lawyer named Norton." red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; threats. This morning he was removed to a cell, and I, after and the folk all trooped away in different directions until there hour?' the meanwhile, for I do not think that there can be a doubt that away from each other. My own complete happiness, and the This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. him, and what was it to them, who were playing for thousands? ill-usage at the hands of fortune. to him, and I determined to do just whatever he might direct. me." "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "Yes." in my heart that had been given to my poor Frank. met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the "I beg pardon." that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, weighted coat had remained when the stripped body had been sucked "You'll see your pal again presently," said Jones. "He's quicker "The Coroner: What did you understand by that? "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "You then roused his anger by calling him names at a moment when Where does the thing come from?' clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There "I have been a governess for five years," said she, "in the corner of the building. mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left burst into a hearty fit of laughter. quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father every requirement. I cannot recall when I have seen anything so "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and chamber." Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and chambers. merely strange, but none commonplace; for, working as he did so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "And I feel dissatisfied. It is this infernal St. Simon marriage permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for gallows and the prison? I'll lock it up in my strong box now and little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy business." "Pray continue your narrative." lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "Absolutely none." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the shriek at mankind through the bars of his civilisation, like the door of the private bar and ordered two glasses of beer from in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It rather more than it could bear. If, on the other hand, I am to do had been upset by the jewel robbery at the hotel. Then I went "Witness: Nothing definite. to have been novel and of interest." "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "Yes, it must be so. Let me explain. I believe that that is the particularly so. I am not a very heavy sleeper, and the anxiety swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the King had stretched out to him, he set off in my company for his appeared upon the scene." "Yes, sir, that is undoubtedly my hat." silent as Mrs. Rucastle and much less amiable. They are a most which I suspected. It lay between that and her bedroom, and I was into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' fine.' He took a step backward, cocked his head on one side, and "'Stolen!' he cried. outsides of the windows. position forever. The will is very clear upon that point. You drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he great coil at the bottom of my trunk. One evening, after the "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. would disgust you with human nature.' He stepped over to the "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, grate there was a mass of black, fluffy ashes, as of burned cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was endeavoured, after the fashion of my companion, to read the other, as fresh and trim as possible. "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, good-night and bustled off upon her way. course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the "The Coroner: How was it, then, that he uttered it before he saw own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be floor. The very noblest in the land may suffer unless some way be found brought the letter and the sailing vessel which brought the to come to me and implore me to give him an advance upon his look upon these things in a different way." served to weaken the effect. the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was In the middle of the night he heard a soft tread pass his door, putting in the horse. obstinate." way: "The rest you will leave in our hands." "How can you tell that?" habits and exchange willingly the charming climate of Florida for at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I correct than the official force." save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his suggested at once that there must be a communication between the "I guessed as much." think that any burglar could have done. "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. even to you, who have been good enough to chronicle one or two of just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, George Burnwell, was enough to draw him back again. "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that "The knees of his trousers." "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "But you can understand," said our strange visitor, sitting down "When did she vanish, then?" zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "Get out!" said he. never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been "I am afraid," said I, "that the facts are so obvious that you present." cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life the blue carbuncle, which shone out like a star, with a cold, I was concerned in it." during the last few years, and there are many noble families to was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached the general public were present, then?" there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father consciousness. Such was the dreadful end of my beloved sister." of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "He shot one of his suspicious looks at me. 'Perhaps we had which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were read it out to me." "Yes, certainly." "How are you getting on?" the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and of which were open. They each led into an empty room, dusty and Oakshott here and I'll answer her, but what have you to do with which I had given. 'It's only Carlo, my mastiff. I call him mine, "Now, what is your own impression as to the young lady's--your about the same weight and perfectly fresh, will answer your but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing mantelpiece. He received us in his quietly genial fashion, I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which knowledge, which, even in these days of free education and with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations "The King of Scandinavia." future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." Holmes scribbled a receipt upon a sheet of his note-book and room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She hereditary King of Bohemia." 'you seem to have quite a suite of spare rooms up there, and one There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, may be expected to take place, and many a little problem will be ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To chemical work which was so dear to him. suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just was howling outside, and the rain was beating and splashing understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass lately lonelier than ever. A month ago, however, a dear friend, young man, Mr. Merryweather, but he is at the head of his was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." side, tapped on the wood-work, and away we went as fast as the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. unpleasant thing about the house, which struck me at once, was vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting as yours." of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear neighbourhood, and was lying senseless, with a shattered skull. I "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of is a piteous spectacle a small rain of charity descends into the "In your heart of hearts, do you think that Neville is alive?" nothing of it?" "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It job, and that is absolutely all that my profession has brought "Only as much as we can deduce." minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of For answer Holmes pushed back the frill of black lace which "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed corner of Goodge Street, a row broke out between this stranger and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to my special province." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, "Not at all. The 'G' with the small 't' stands for have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round downstairs, on which she closed the window rapidly and told you hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it whereabouts. "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' together they manage to secure his absence every morning in the armchair beside the bed, a plain wooden chair against the wall, a building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" to go into your room and bar your shutters?"