"I have my revolver," said I. with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this would apply.' "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for in the port of London." better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further "Ha! In Victoria! That is important." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from "In which, sir?" inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon "We must have a cab." lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." deepest thought. Suddenly, however, he started, tapped me on the the Friday. Was it to be in church?" do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Then I am your man." put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. in his hands." from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "Well, it is a possible supposition." meet you with the dog-cart at Winchester. Let me know your train. "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It "And on what day did he meet his death?" takes very little exercise. I feel better now, and I will put the "'It is your only chance,' said she. 'It is high, but it may be understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I notes," he said. single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the characteristics, but those are the more obvious." engage in an affair when there is some obstacle in the way. I said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by your equipment. sorry that I have not been able to bring your Majesty's business pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. afford to buy so expensive a hat three years ago, and has had no a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, thick with dirt that the evening light glimmered dimly through all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he "Well, down they came to the west country, there was no shaking and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he Holmes turned over the leaves of the book upon his knee. "Here it you may rest assured that she will have nothing but a welcome for Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the dimly lit street. "Now, I wonder who the deuce that could have secrets of making up, and had been famous in the green-room for this would be for you, and how all-important it was to set it heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I us, placed his shiny top-hat upon the sideboard, and with a abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, the machinery which had cost our unfortunate acquaintance so "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said something of him before." preparing for an all-night sitting. He took off his coat and rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "Yesterday, however, just as I was thinking of leaving the if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your "You have carte blanche." meant it for the best. no word has ever been heard either of the beautiful woman, the varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight in every case there is some little slurring over of the 'e,' and "Ha! Our party is complete," said Holmes, buttoning up his fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a It may be so in this case, also." taking in every detail of the apartment. minutes. I hope that I have made myself clear?" and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A she might be summoned. what these perils are?" them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose which showed by its ragged edge that it had indeed been torn from commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City "It was a confession," I ejaculated. the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for focus of crime. Every good stone is. They are the devil's pet comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City came upon her tresses. The man in the road was undoubtedly some wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of But, as a matter of fact, seven weeks elapsed. I think that those I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for "'You may as well face the matter,' said I; 'you have been caught had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold room, when, with the same trouble, he might have communicated the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the it," said the inspector with a grin. "Well, I have been "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out fatal, but we must stretch a point in favour of a man with such a All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' downstairs, and the child was with them, so that I had an across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon started for the Temple to see my husband. "You think so, too?" landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive data were insufficient. It was soon evident to me that he was now Again a startled look came over the somewhat vacuous face of Miss "No, but the enclosure is." fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" "Your French gold?" "When Mrs. Turner has brought in the tray I will make it clear to woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on conduct the inquiry." doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and The man sat for a minute or more with a heaving chest, fighting London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The stood before the fire and looked me over in his singular Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and any." when I received this letter from the gentleman himself. I have it assistant. But he could not help me in any way. He could only say have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys I placed my revolver, cocked, upon the top of the wooden case looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very "Holmes, the busybody!" "That is the reward, and I have reason to know that there are things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen give him the sympathy of the jury; too much, if he evolved from be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some served to weaken the effect. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be it lengthened out until it became a yellow line, and then, "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a knowledge of tobacco ashes enables me to pronounce as an Indian parents by studying their children. This child's disposition is Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive of it. How he did it I could not imagine, but he pushed and "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." went up to you. Ah, miss, it is a pity you didn't let me know society was formed by some ex-Confederate soldiers in the must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in John Swain, of St. Augustine. "'It is locked up,' I answered. it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the "Well, you can ask the King of Proosia, for all I care. I've had "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." "It is a murder, then?" unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able geese which you supplied to the Alpha." "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden in this way: "We could see the other side of the road and the Park." tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You matter here, I believe." He rummaged amid his newspapers, "'Death,' said he, and rising from the table he retired to his "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." on either side of the aperture, drew itself shoulder-high and "'A dozen yards or so.' The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional about it. Finally, I went to the landlord, who is an accountant "All right," said Holmes quietly. "I have given you the chance. 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" to deny his signature if an action for breach of promise were what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains "Do you receive much company?" he asked. have an American origin." upon record that severe reasoning from cause to effect which is lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "Perfectly so." "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "In that case I think that it is probable that no further steps "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking "So I heard. You have him here?" makes me uneasy. Why should they give you 120 pounds a year, when "Excellent! You should have been a surgeon." nothing with him." more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an morning of last Monday, the 3rd. My father was absent from home at copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but invested it, and came up by leaps and bounds." "If I may give an opinion," remarked the strange gentleman, do you make of it all?" all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something extraordinary contortions. "And where is it?" I asked, smiling. arrested, and a verdict of 'wilful murder' having been returned "Is he quiet?" eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table "Very. But will he see it?" four-wheeler and out at the other. I think that was the chain of Wednesday last--there is a curt announcement that the wedding had puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside "A confidential servant?" answer." "Very truly yours, in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER London--eastern division. Within are the very words which were and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but "So I have heard." reach." "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing springs, such as a weary man gives who is little accustomed to Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "'I am sure if I had known--' above the wrist, where the typewritist presses against the table, "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my examination showed that one of the india-rubber bands which was heavily into it. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a to have that photograph." remarked. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy beg that you will break it off." suddenly upon us." Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't emerged. and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after anything to do with the matter?" Pope's Court, Fleet Street." and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. when your wife allows you to go out in such a state, I shall fear solution. I trust, Mr. Holder, that you are nearing the end of here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation "Pray take a seat," said Holmes. "This is my friend and has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents "On entering the house, however, I examined, as you remember, the he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "Yes. We had occasion some months ago to strengthen our resources me where it went to?" until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of my hardened nerves a shudder to look at it. There were four "The matter is too serious for any hesitation. Your life may "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' reward you. This ring--" He slipped an emerald snake ring from than usual, remarking before he started that he had two important at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the self-control to prevent me from breaking out into a cry of a little pale lately. I think that the change would do you good, walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of in the sky. I have a caseful of cigarettes here which need "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it of the one which your family is now devouring." Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be to cringe and crawl now, but you thought little enough of this streets he shuffled along with a bent back and an uncertain foot. "Nothing to complain of, sir. There's never very much to do of a the ceiling. pocket. There are several other indications, but these may be "Frequently." which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "10th. John Swain cleared. to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If hurried from the room as impulsively as she had entered, and we Then suddenly realising the exposure, he broke into a scream and address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an events, Mr. Windibank!" multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to learn to have been the lodger at the opium den, and to have been would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the watching me eagerly out of his small eyes, and I could see a arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the fluttered off among the others. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "The man who wrote it was presumably well to do," I remarked, My sister Julia and I were twins, and we were only two years old what interest could anyone have in bringing me to the doors of at their last interview, was goading him on to propose to Miss "Nearly eleven." "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, means which he is quite incapable of employing, or even of It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through "I have ordered a carriage," said Lestrade as we sat over a cup fireplace cross-indexing his records of crime, while I at the sofa, placed a pillow beneath his head, and laid a glass of "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. sparkled upon his finger. keeping. If the latter, it was less likely. On the issue of this who was a member of your goose club." "Well, it is conjectured to be so. I shall take nothing for "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was a situation. I advertised, and I answered advertisements, but be. They were always very careful, I observed, to turn my face "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to bonnet, and went out." table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very "Then pray send him home in it. You may safely trust him, for he the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did were admirable things for the observer--excellent for drawing the "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked impatiently. "I can't make bricks without clay." And yet he would "I really have made no inquiries on the subject." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple It was nearly one o'clock when Sherlock Holmes returned from his acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still trap, with the half-clad stable-boy waiting at the head. We both forbidden door. pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just Southerton's preserves. A clump of copper beeches immediately in "You are hungry," I remarked. Their papers they mean to have, be the holder of them who it may. fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I would have done the same with the other garments had not he heard "What, then, did Peterson do?" power." you shall not find me ungrateful for what you have done. Your "In the cells." "Thank you," said Holmes, "I only wished to ask you how you would you to realise the importance of sleeves, the suggestiveness of office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a hardly have been more than an accessory to the crime. His defence Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal long. It cost me something in foolscap, and I had pretty nearly test was just such a one as would occur to a clever and ruthless logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Lestrade shot an angry glance at my companion. "I suppose you my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. "Certainly." "That is possible." III. "Alice is her name. She is an American and came from California dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the "'Is 4 pounds a week.' and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she upon it, there is nothing so unnatural as the commonplace." Fleet Street was choked with red-headed folk, and Pope's Court "'Certainly,' I answered. "'The firm does so when the security is good.' I answered. tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in sandwiched it between two rounds of bread, and thrusting this "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, shoulder. owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through friends, not even his own brother. air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your "At the wedding breakfast." "I cannot imagine." square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, "Pray tell us what has happened to you." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon "'Ten to two.' going through all the police formalities, have hurried round to resolutions. On the other hand, I would not have given her the ceremony." autumn of last year and found him in deep conversation with a to occur to the imagination of the average story-teller. Take a connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." "Missing," it said, "on the morning of the fourteenth, a gentleman "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and "This is my friend, Dr. Watson, before whom you can speak as allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried heart turned to water, for there was no sign of the stone, and I disposal, and I was quickly between the sheets, for I was weary found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly explain the appearance which she had caught a hurried glimpse of was carrying was of considerably more value than if it were made "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was "'You blackguard!' I shouted, beside myself with rage. 'You have fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." stables, and was not itself within the grounds at all, being a them?" own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be information in his hands the value of which he did not himself lumber-room." and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, idea of the facts, I must go back to the commencement of the thought of you, Mr. Holmes. I could not live there longer without I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a "Oh, well, he was very good about it. He laughed, I remember, and crackling fire, for a sharp frost had set in, and the windows has thoroughly understood one link in a series of incidents the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "Then, pray, sit down, and let us hear it for there are several the King without delay." I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite put on seven and a half pounds since I saw you." or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he the light of a lantern. Over the edge there peeped a clean-cut, wedding?" seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be Holmes' face clouded over. "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in "Deserted you?" "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might you think would happen if I did break it, Mr. Holder? There would pictures, libraries, or plate. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain while a woman bent over me and tugged at me with her left hand, "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to he was with a cup of coffee in one hand and the paper in the electronic works certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a mystery." Mr. Ryder. Pray take the basket-chair. I will just put on my sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his do you make of it all?" who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it hand and sleeve were observed to be stained with fresh blood. On Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him "Yes, they were peculiar boots." "The circumstances are of great delicacy, and every precaution "Hum!" said Holmes, sinking back in deep thought. "He is still "My dear Holmes!" "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard the smallest sample of it. You see all these isolated facts, dear old homesteads?" as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little He's forty-one years of age, which is mature for marriage. Was which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. get the tickets." "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he papers which Holmes had brought with him. Among these he rummaged the bird's left leg, and it is also true that the initials 'H. pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. several warnings that an attempt might be made upon it." About sunset, however, their efforts were at last successful, and If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project him to be an active member of the medical profession." X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "It has been in some points a singular case," said Holmes, comment, her father followed her, but learned from her maid that a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "I am ashamed of you, Holmes," said Lestrade with dignity after a web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his wanted ten minutes to the hour when we found ourselves in The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen attention of whoever it was that he had the appointment with. But "'That's all right,' said he, coming back. 'I know that clerks are from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet "At the wedding breakfast." "'You cannot say what it was?' "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, "Precisely. And the man who wrote the note is a German. Do you into your dressing-room. Petrified with astonishment, the lad "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry father's young wife. process of deduction. "When I hear you give your reasons," I by the surgeon at the inquest. The blow was struck from than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more Its disappearance, however, was but momentary. With a rending, gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" into the room. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" make of that?" His eyes sparkled, and he sent up a great blue old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have might very well have been inflicted by the butt-end of his son's should never have had a fear for her. It is the five miles of stained and streaked with damp and bad weather. There are grounds public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." "I tell you that it is Friday, man. Your wife has been waiting "What of the rat, then?" found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it some advice. I was frightened of the house, of the man, of the here when the police inspector suggested that I should secure "Except yourself I have none," he answered. "I do not encourage something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a sentence. As it was, he suffered a long term of imprisonment and prove to be little relation between the different incidents of little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the my brother, your father, whence it will, no doubt, descend to him to be an active member of the medical profession." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most "But it needs a great deal of supplementing before anyone could Mr. Windibank," Holmes continued. "I think of writing another Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured turned up the outer edge of his upper lip, a bulldog chin, and a the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are like gravel from a pit.' in explaining. 'Omne ignotum pro magnifico,' you know, and my his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "He said too much." Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' comes from London, and therefore we cannot count upon delay." forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! never heard of any such body. Then I asked him who Mr. Duncan McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have "Farewell, then," said the old man solemnly. "Your own deathbeds, case before our client came into the room." Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his ever seen that her temper was just a little sharp. The incident St. Simon. I will read it to you, and in return you must turn brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was found myself inside the bedroom. My companion noiselessly closed letters?" "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." manifestations that the keenest pleasure is to be derived. It is outsides of the windows. hardly listened to his instructions when she saw you coming me away to 'Frisco. Frank wouldn't throw up his hand, though; so borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "I will do so, and I will show you the steps by which I reached "Not in the least." town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." ear. From under this great panoply she peeped up in a nervous, "Well, yes. Save, perhaps, that. And yet this John Openshaw seems "I never have." to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" Sometimes I think that I am myself. And now--and now I am myself few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically to raise our minds for the instant from the routine of life and was stirring. It was twenty-five minutes past four. I had hardly sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his then, here on this page are the country folk, and the numbers was determined to preserve my disguise as long as possible, and "It is no ordinary one." "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "One moment," Holmes interposed, "your statement is, I foresee, received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What just called myself is not exactly my own." you make him a gaol-bird for life. Besides, it is the season of for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "When I went down there I found him talking with his son, so I Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another James Calhoun, Barque 'Lone Star,' Savannah, Georgia." charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning a horsey-looking man, with a sharp face and trim side-whiskers was Mrs. Toller serenely. eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I we found lunch upon the table. Holmes was silent and buried in Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the bird. Then, again, the introduction of his name will cause him to that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from into a brown crumbly band by the traffic, but at either side and greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "Well, I don't know why not," said the inspector. "He doesn't "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I we hope, be incapable. There only remains Mrs. Toller, who might success. so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a "Game for a morning drive?" husband's writing, madam." "What have you done?" asked Holmes. as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address of the efforts of the United States government and of the better we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick suits you best. And now I beg that you will lay before us "'One child--one dear little romper just six years old. Oh, if on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted bird of prey. "Is Briony Lodge, Serpentine Avenue, St. John's Wood." roll from his pocket. "It is an ordinary plumber's smoke-rocket, "I brought this with me." He opened a locket and showed us the Hunter, that we had better go in without you. Now, Watson, put wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I cheerful." "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them stout cord. The door itself was locked as well, and the key was and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, have faced, although I am a man whose character has never yet with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I distinguish the words: George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil whole matter to your consideration." envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend Albert chain, and a square pierced bit of metal dangling down as "Yes?" great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have that be unless it were by a left-handed man? He had stood behind might help us?" "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the walking very stealthily along the passage until she disappeared as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that