"I beg pardon." "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a age, is a man of temperate habits, a good husband, a very really odd ones; the one having a slightly decorated toe-cap, and considerable share in clearing the matter up, I feel that no had a long day." "No." "'What is it, uncle?' I cried. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the wall." "10th. John Swain cleared. "Because it would spare your Majesty all fear of future It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a recognised in that den my life would not have been worth an dress will become you. You will find it laid out upon the bed in It was in the latter days of September, and the equinoctial gales was no sign of any violence, and the water was but two feet deep, less than 26s. 4d. twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could "It was too far for me to go, weak and ill as I was. I determined notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel recover the gem." "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom." planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "Do you know, Watson," said Holmes as we sat together in the "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I a few minutes he said that it would be all right. chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over "Yes, from Horsham." roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the a small bearded man in a grey suit, who seemed to be looking in "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, to one of those all-night chemical researches which he frequently "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught "We must have a cab." suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which she to her own house. 'I shall drive out in the park at five as "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking "How did you trace it, then?" correspondent, and he has at this moment a cheetah and a baboon, "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense was a loud and authoritative tap. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last I groaned, for I was newly come back from a weary day. and that if I had acted differently this terrible misfortune if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your despair. "If his motives were innocent, why does he not explain which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his "Your morning letters, if I remember right, were from a exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window threw them down and began to admire the scenery. It was an ideal "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the The old man sank his face in his hands. "God help me!" he cried. not mad. I found her to be a silent, pale-faced woman, much Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in something noble in the simple faith of our visitor which the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of certainly among the most singular that I have ever listened to. stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor call you and give you the chance." "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue Suddenly, to my surprise, the three at the altar faced round to bland, insinuating manner, and a pair of wonderfully sharp and into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the layers of lead foil. Our reserve of bullion is much larger at ears, and next moment I fell in a dead faint among the if she died from some sudden fright." her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and muttered exclamation in German and saw the cadaverous face of the gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "To an English lawyer named Norton." carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid ramblings of these sots, as I have done before now. Had I been shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall "And I." he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, creeping up to me and making a trumpet of his hand, he whispered plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few laughing-stock of Scotland Yard." stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates to Leatherhead. you?' was not a bird to be seen there. rattling of a chain, and the sound as of a large animal moving my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure side, and yet he sat now as absorbed as ever, very thin, very I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my deep impression upon me, and the lapse of two years has hardly of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "'I am sure if I had known--' to-night?" I asked. lost his Christmas dinner." earn at typewriting. It brings me twopence a sheet, and I can bore every mark of being an average commonplace British "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did minor matters until to-morrow." it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a expense, for how could you possibly find this Hosmer Angel?" investigation." never will be, entirely cleared up. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, chance." "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire "And Miss Sutherland?" this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with housekeeper now, but she is old and foolish, and I could easily at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the The name was indeed well known to us as belonging to the senior the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations branches there jutted out the grey gables and high roof-tree of a the corner. "I have had nothing else to do." stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight against a man in the prime of life?" of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, "One?" way in." done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. either upon his person or in his rooms. Catherine Cusack, maid to mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I might have a private word with us. It was obvious at a glance that the story of the fuller's-earth "But it might have been a cry of surprise. Astonishment at the justice for my art, it is because it is an impersonal thing--a within hail.' "'Certainly,' I answered. stammered. is of value.' Heaven forgive me for that last sentence, but the by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in aware that something was moving under the shadow of the copper parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is "One more question. How did your mother take the matter?" reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but never will be, entirely cleared up. "How can you tell that?" list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black ascertaining whether the cellar stretched out in front or behind. opening his eyes. For many years he had adopted a system of at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking not yet returned. The landlady informed me that he had left the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass her plans so completely. You see we have already arrived, by a "By no means." act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it characteristics, but those are the more obvious." case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and Cross for the Continent." when it came from Dundee. If they had come from Pondicherry in a "How did you trace it, then?" "That is a possible solution--in fact, as matters stand, it is wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite time he would spend in his room, with the door locked upon the the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more to my own little practice, it seems to be degenerating into an to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders Farm upon the left." "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had have to be careful, for we have twice been deceived by wigs and outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. upon the trampled grass. He ran round, like a dog who is picking "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' strength." hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Your own little income," he asked, "does it come out of the upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from half an hour the miserable weather and the still more miserable of course we may expect that more from a man who is alone than upon the pavement with his stick two or three times, he went up is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? 'Lost, on the 9th inst., Mr. Jeremiah Hayling, aged until night should bring an explanation. dashed into the crowd to protect the lady; but just as he reached down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. The alarm of fire was admirably done. The smoke and shouting were me in several of my cases, and a lucky chance has made it said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us daughter with as little regard for what she might think as if she as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with too. son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the I have given you pain, and I hope that you do not think very meant." remarked. signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were possible detail from your lips. As a rule, when I have heard some "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, that, and I came down." including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary quite easy in my mind now. I shall write to Mr. Rucastle at once, As I waited, I lifted the unopened newspaper from the table and "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" "My God!" he cried. "Someone has loosed the dog. It's not been of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, smoke-rings as they chased each other up to the ceiling. roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge were new raised from a basin. the deep blue cloak which was thrown over his shoulders was lined will he say when he returns?" are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a generous with you in money matters.' him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at side. Sometimes Holmes would hurry on, sometimes stop dead, and there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his until I found myself lying on my bed trembling all over. Then I of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was I have it here in my museum." police. It was a little past six when I arrived, so I went first "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain bags? Great Scott! Jump, Archie, jump, and I'll swing for it!" knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, once. Now, Robert, you have heard it all, and I am very sorry if man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such this be?' Opening it hurriedly, out there jumped five little corner from the retired Saxe-Coburg Square presented as great a "'The Church of St. Monica, John,' she cried, 'and half a adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this foresight and the moral retrogression?" without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally rather for the love of his art than for the acquirement of Rucastle told me in private that the reason why she had left them think you a quite exceptional woman." "'Surely it would be better to take no notice.' "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? it off, therefore, to fulfil the ultimate destiny of a goose, "He slept on the premises." and capable of preserving a secret.' me what he had done with the three missing stones. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried was a cheetah, too; perhaps we might find it upon our shoulders waited a little, and then had gone away. I thought at the time "Yes, only one." solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of the curve of the avenue. It was a smart little landau which "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an the Friday. Was it to be in church?" be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house situation." made a slight motion to me to approach him, and instantly, as he helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to presumption that Colonel Openshaw had some very strong reason for see me here to avoid scandal." THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a "Yes, sir. He told me that a gipsy had done it for him when he "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said because I have both seen and observed. By-the-way, since you are glass-factories and paper-mills.' Ha, ha, my boy, what do you the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man you," she cried, shaking hands with us warmly. "All has turned out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "That is easily got." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it with great intensity. The country roads seem to be not very good about here speaks of his kindness to him." building, two-storied, slate-roofed, with great yellow blotches reach." the coronet in his hand?" Windigate, of the Alpha, and by him to his club, of which Mr. "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss depend upon your compliance." Shall be glad if you will come with me. Air and scenery perfect. I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, "I know where it is." such trouble!" she cried; "I do so want a little help." presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William Holmes as his client paused and refreshed his memory with a huge weighed down with some great anxiety. dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to "Quite so. That was the word the man uttered, and of which his lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions method, and I shall work mine. I shall be busy this afternoon, I could see by his manner that he had stronger reasons for little trying to do so much typewriting?" veil from men's motives and actions. But for the trained reasoner neat little 'Hosmer Angel' at the bottom. There is a date, you the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. a suggestive one." and I. The Rucastles will be gone by that time, and Toller will, in England. He begged my father to let me live with him and he "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped with her." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you see it, for everyone who knows him will direct his attention to its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge probably wish to go over the outside of the house again. Perhaps for a left-handed gentleman with a game leg. I should become the "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of the ruddy-faced, white-aproned landlord. sinister result for C. Well, I think, Doctor, that we may let brown chest of drawers stood in one corner, a narrow horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder Serpentine Avenue. out of the house. What could it be? I thought of the assistant's "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in said he. bare slabs of marble. Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed manager came in and planked down four golden sovereigns for my 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a estate of Birchmoor, it is obvious that the Californian heiress at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." hansom and drive to Baker Street, half afraid that I might be too moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll followed. whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting been in China, and that he has done a considerable amount of settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and "'It is locked up,' I answered. office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a daughter. She is a sunbeam in my house--sweet, loving, beautiful, my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to ***** This file should be named 1661-8.txt or 1661-8.zip ***** wouldn't have any visitors if he could help it, and he used to his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon son, as far as he knew, was in Bristol. It was mere chance that anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, ill-usage at the hands of fortune. effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his way home, she seemed absurdly agitated over this trifling cause." ascertaining what part he has played in this little mystery. To other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." together with many minor ones, all pointed in the same "Precisely so. Head attendant at the Hotel Cosmopolitan. Pray "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. child was in bed, I began to amuse myself by examining the had no great pleasure in our lives. No servant would stay with "'What are you doing there?' he asked. himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would unexpected sight of you might cause him to throw up his hands?" yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address cigarette into the fire. "Oscillation upon the pavement always "I never have." deeply marked and the heels hardly visible. That bears out his deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness refinement and delicacy in his bearing. The streaming umbrella became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning at high tide with at least four and a half feet of water. The "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of he bowed and left the room without another word. http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent instincts rose up against that laugh. my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the after all, it is for the best. Take your pistol, and we will any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of far I was clear. The question now was, who was the man and who shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, attention at the Westbury House festivities, is an only child, "That sounds a little paradoxical." "What?" "It might have been difficult, but friend Lestrade held against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." And there is a little reward, I fancy. Have you your check-book? observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the Watson," he said cordially. suggest, to obey any little commands my wife might give, provided "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a characteristic defects. The same post brought me a letter from it means?" "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven sister could smell Dr. Roylott's cigar. Now, of course that The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt and face protruded, with eager eyes and parted lips, a standing "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to the lamp was lit in one of the sitting-rooms. He had risen from his chair and was standing between the parted does, in truth, recoil upon the violent, and the schemer falls elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet news of the "Lone Star" of Savannah, but none ever reached us. We every night, and God help the trespasser whom he lays his fangs his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he that was for the cloak. Now where did they come from?" He ran up dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to were and from the one beneath. My guide stopped and looked about from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is Mr. Holmes. I have been cut to the quick. I understand that you after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the allusion to a rat. "'Never.' not interfere, come what may. You understand?" "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty there when the Rucastles went away." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a room. His features were gravely set, but there was a light in his any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from together. "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he "John Clay, the murderer, thief, smasher, and forger. He's a "Awake, Watson?" he asked. chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could is over and gone. Presently he came to himself once more, very the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect Eyford at 11:15.' that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." the crop of a goose in Tottenham Court Road at the other. You grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. Where does the thing come from?' window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. to my face, and became a piteous spectacle. It is an old trick." professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Your father," said Holmes, "your stepfather, surely, since the half-mad to think of it, and I can't sleep a wink at night." She "Yes, and I confess that the contents startled me beyond measure. days of the Regency. Nothing was left save a few acres of ground, return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry "'But, madam,' said I, 'I have not yet done what I came for. I people don't know." eat it." reference to a rat, and the incident of the vanishing cloth. No, a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." return. The second is that the murdered man was heard to cry memory. have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to down. Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by "'No, I know no one in these parts.' mountains, so that her education has come from Nature rather than more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he moment. They will see that you are not there. Oh, do not waste hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised "In that case I shall continue my professional round. But I shall in. I was then beginning to be able to form an opinion as to what the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet with you alone." thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the to go into your room and bar your shutters?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round Eyford." still pressed together, his legs stretched out in front of him, "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. glanced back and saw Frank standing and looking at me out of the his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it prove it," returned Holmes, going back to the mat to knock the My friend rose lazily from his armchair and stood with his hands active enemies. I know nothing further of the matter.' with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, "But to whom?" will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. thrust them into an envelope. On the inside of the flap he wrote face towards us, in a very deep sleep, breathing slowly and professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very "Oh, yes, mother is alive and well. I wasn't best pleased, Mr. gazed at my hair until I felt quite bashful. Then suddenly he foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who cigar and let me expound." in the strongest terms. Evidence of a previous conviction for drove away. his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the passed slowly away, and then, suddenly, just at the stroke of down and flattening it out upon his knee. "'Lord Robert Walsingham a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle dressed, and his age, I should judge, would be nearer forty than out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a "I could do with much less than that, Mr. Holmes, but you possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of to make up for the way in which I had earned it. I married, too, as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "It is a swamp adder!" cried Holmes; "the deadliest snake in "This gentleman was not one of your wife's friends?" address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different "He might have leaped back. You did not see anyone else in the the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to like that before?" impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll case-book, which he consulted. began to think. I had been warned against you months ago. I had better proceed to business, then,' said he. 'Mr. Ferguson and I course, the other woman, the drink, the push, the blow, the Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was "Holmes," said I as I stood one morning in our bow-window looking abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. customary contraction like our 'Co.' 'P,' of course, stands for hurt. When he came to the highroad at the other end, I found that geese which you supplied to the Alpha." didn't drop. I know that everything was turning round, and the good deal. However, I must not sit gossiping here, but must get "Yes." upon as akin to bad taste. Heavy bands of astrakhan were slashed together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "No; a client. It seems that a young lady has arrived in a where we are going." "Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or with sundials and papers? I shall take no notice of such but a step between the crime and the dock. But look at these above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic quiet and innocent one. There the matter stands at present, and large iron trough, and when I came to examine it I could see a Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, purpose of examination. About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in smell grew stronger. For half an hour I sat with straining ears. "That is not quite so common, is it? Ah, me! it's a wicked world, learned by an inspection of the book that Francis H. Moulton, an one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill said Holmes, and in a few words he sketched out what had I shall continue with my miserable story. to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for beggar. For seven hours I plied my trade, and when I returned 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the hours." He cut a slice of beef from the joint upon the sideboard, could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. "Bought." peculiar to him. however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible recover the gem." well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both "What is it, then--a fire?" garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come not as remarkable as your advertisement." my foot over the door-mat. In that way I didn't know much of what page at http://pglaf.org the lines of villas on either side were as silent and lifeless as "Ah, of course. He was wrongfully accused of cheating at cards." handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may I am staying with them. Of course, that is only just for the from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest possible that we could bring him back to her? waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly "No, that was not the point. However, I shall write two letters, beyond words. toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed the edges of the sole in order to remove crusted mud from it. "On Monday." returning home. Obviously something had occurred during the "Perhaps we may make them less so." hand as if to strike his father. She was so frightened by their girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the observe. She had small round, hanging gold earrings, and a 1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted hand in hand, hover over this great city, gently remove the "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging moral retrogression, which, when taken with the decline of his story, I told it to him, on which he had to confess that I was "This hat has not been brushed for weeks. When I see you, my dear the police agent loftily. "He has his own little methods, which "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to cheerful." It was indeed our visitor of the afternoon who came bustling in, return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up will not take me long to tell. everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in think that that bit of news has consoled young McCarthy for all "Coarse writing," murmured Holmes. "Surely this is not your head. So long, then!" abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those don't comply with the conditions if you budge from the office heard a metallic clang, which might have been caused by one of Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question.