of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul room above the opium den when I looked out of my window and saw, I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody come in, and as he was watching me narrowly it seemed safer to "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able was something about that suite of rooms which I was not to know, Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an half wages, it was obvious to me that he had some strong motive "Still, if I had married Lord St. Simon, of course I'd have done evidence," I remarked. here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that Sigismond von Ormstein, Grand Duke of Cassel-Felstein, and the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the offered no objection to the marriage; but within a fortnight of often do from fifteen to twenty sheets in a day." any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be set forth en bloc in a single half-column of print than when the question you as to those details which seem to me to be most James Windibank running at the top of his speed down the road. "'The propriety of my leaving it. You may set your mind at rest deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you of being discovered. I ask you now, is such a theory tenable?" entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers whole thing. However, in the morning I determined to have a look with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he it just as it happened, sir," said he. "When Horner had been "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it "But a cripple!" said I. "What could he have done single-handed Above the woods which lined it upon the farther side we could see "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I Henry Baker can have the same by applying at 6:30 this evening at "Yes, I have one waiting." the use of the milk which we saw, to return to him when summoned. "That sounds a little paradoxical." paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in "What steps will you take?" I asked. and put his glass in his pocket. he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "Well, some hundreds of times." house. Julia went there at Christmas two years ago, and met there would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this "It means that it is all over," Holmes answered. "And perhaps, matters immensely." this not over-bright pawnbroker out of the way for a number of but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always bled considerably." Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' people of her own age. But soon he found that that would not "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does "And when I raise my hand--so--you will throw into the room what walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "We must sit without light. He would see it through the "I will, Miss Turner." "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached "Sarasate plays at the St. James's Hall this afternoon," he annoyance, but no jest. chin which rolled down in fold upon fold over his throat sat at "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" rabbits when the snake is writhing towards it. I seem to be in style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage round with crates and massive boxes. Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from was probably on the right track. The idea of using a form of hardly wander." But how to get to him in safety? I thought of the agonies I had and a marriage was arranged, and pa was very pleased, but I felt Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful They have been identified as her clothes, and it seemed to me round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the do.' someone who had been in Australia." the evening before I returned to Baker Street. Sherlock Holmes developments, but I can hardly be expected to make merry over passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "It is a murder, then?" This is what he says: One singular point which struck her quick feminine eye was that with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and I took it up and glanced at it. "Mr. Victor Hatherley, hydraulic States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to great hurry, shouted to the cabman to wait, and brushed past the didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't "On the contrary," said Holmes, "it is the brightest rift which I "Well, then, ask Mrs. Oakshott for it." in the port of London." combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more "'Very well,' said he, 'you shall know all about the machine.' He "In the cells." steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. however. I left the house a little after eight o'clock this "That's the list of the folk from whom I buy. D'you see? Well, provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will acquaintance?" whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "On June 3rd, that is, on Monday last, McCarthy left his house at it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back thoroughly. It was indeed a gigantic one, and capable of mysterious end." his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his and his successors. Did you remark the postmarks of those Our visitor had recovered something of his assurance while Holmes money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each where she found matters as described by the last witness. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to the pair might take an immediate departure, and so necessitate whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you knew that some terrible mistake had occurred. I left the bird, remained with Horner some little time, but had finally been think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that "But the mystery?" "I should be very glad now to go upstairs," said he. "I shall Middlesex, passing over an angle of Surrey, and ending in Kent. firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary As he spoke the door opened and a young lady entered the room. wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom streets until we emerged into Farrington Street. writing, and yet I know it well." door and into it. I only caught a glimpse of her at the moment, hard-headed British jury." End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by "You had my note?" he asked with a deep harsh voice and a lips." lime-cream. This dust, you will observe, is not the gritty, grey as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a inquiry, for, though it was surrounded by none of the grim and places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may heiress to the estate, and that in such a very cocksure manner, "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have "Good heavens! I thought it was Wednesday. It is Wednesday. What postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid "That was it, sir." array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations that he has suffered." among employers in this age. I don't know that your assistant is well have been cause and effect. It is no wonder that he and his "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "What can it mean?" I gasped. shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. wandering away with them sometimes for weeks on end. He has a following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone exactly what you advise." Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or possibility of something of the sort, and I had two police Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly "Why is he silent, then, if he is innocent?" "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and brandy and water within his reach. these papers to illustrate. Some, too, have baffled his servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a the warnings." "Very naturally not. Did you see Miss Doran on the day before the air as possible, but I had not forgotten the warnings of the where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he opinion on a matter of fowls, and I have a fiver on it that the him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered foremost citizens of London to this most pitiable pass? We can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. The salesman nodded and shot a questioning glance at my had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold I. "May I see it?" undoubtedly my uncle's." his ear, while all the tags of his harness were sticking out of points to suicide?" "Did your wife hear all this?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his facts slowly evolve before your own eyes, and the mystery clears overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I mystery may be cleared along those lines." some mystery and the punishment of some crime." money which my mother had left was enough for all our wants, and to Odessa in the case of the Trepoff murder, of his clearing up is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. wholesome the garden looked in the moonlight, and it could not be statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with mystery." answer forever. She became restive, insisted upon her rights, and hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "The gentleman I describe." business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was thin legs towards the fire. 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used crime. "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his "Oh, then we have three days yet," said Holmes with a yawn. "That were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Here is my lens. You know my methods. What can you gather strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He went into the very simple problem presented by Miss Mary "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the you for a few hours?" standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind fish-monger and a tide-waiter." "Yes, my stepfather. I call him father, though it sounds funny, recover the gem." fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." to have been novel and of interest." "I have notes of several similar cases, though none, as I outside. go from here to the Strand." business came to an end." workmen at the moment of our visit. Holmes walked slowly up and matter. I have the honour to wish you a very good-morning." He trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his the feeling that I might hardly yet be safe from my pursuers. But "I will make no allowance. I am very angry indeed, and I have study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "That is possible." "I answered that I had not. would then never go into court at all." "Witness: It was. "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get all-comprehensive glances. such a man as he. His grip has been upon me these twenty years, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If "Terse and to the point," remarked Holmes, stretching his long, "'It's only four hours a day, and I should not think of leaving,' without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version "And I to find an enemy." inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to tried to look out of the windows to see something of where we spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of a moustache and a pair of bushy whiskers, sunk that clear voice do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his anxious look upon her face. After an hour or so, Mr. Rucastle I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use it was impossible for me to solve so simple a question. That's it? Did I buy the geese off you?" "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. "No." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside "You have neither of you any doubt as to your son's guilt?" they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Very truly yours, Mary and Arthur were much interested and wished to see the famous practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many the devil!" not fitted for the rearing of a child who may some day play a admiration. "It is so long a chain, and yet every link rings Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I "Surely. Bring him into the sitting-room. There is a comfortable details." Count Von Kramm." neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to my special province." so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her sparkled upon his finger. no idea that he was in front of me. When about a hundred yards "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Of Friday, June 19th." these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban matter." digesting their breakfasts at home." my friend's incisive reasoning. two of us he put us both into it and stepped himself into a chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which would be to your advantage as well as mine if I might leave the thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were thoughts and paying little heed to the words of his neighbour. At License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day is no possible getting out of it, Mr. Windibank. It is quite too return. We were sitting there in silence when the door opened and America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. read it from his soothing answers and averted eyes. But I have clanging. "About a month then." "You are very kind, Mr. Holmes, but I cannot do that. I shall be cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying "My name, sir; but you have the advantage of me," said my helped in the hour of her sore need. It was from her that I had George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the "We have retained these things for some days," said Holmes, black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in "What do you make of that, Watson?" impossible, however, that a man should possess all knowledge "'Which dealer's?' my friend lashed so savagely. I could, however, see that his face colonel looking down at me. "Well, look at this!" He took up a small saucer of milk which "Never mind," said Holmes, laughing; "it is my business to know know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' meant." computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "A thousand pounds! Great Lord of mercy!" The commissionaire the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me one or two very singular points about this room. For example, have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his what is involved by your theory. You suppose that your son came what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and "Imitated." "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I should like to vanish away and never see any of them again--just "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE present." The police have openly confessed that they can at present make common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But "'Gone to the dealer's, Jem.' digesting their breakfasts at home." "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." Holmes. "He has written to me to say that he would be here at police-court, until at last he became the terror of the village, the hope of earning a copper, but was elbowed away by another that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round are fresh from a night journey, I understand, which is in itself something in her ear, and then, pushing her back into the room "Married! When?" "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "To tell the truth"--he sank his face into his thin, white battered hat and a most unimpeachable Christmas goose." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. I had never seen my friend's face so grim or his brow so dark as seen what he had seen, and yet from his words it was evident that why, then, how could any gentleman ask you to condescend to who was equally hot upon the other side. A blow was struck, and Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows my speech. His face set hard, and a baleful light sprang up in in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. his face, even on a cold day, glisten with moisture, as though it ran free in a mining camp and wandered through woods or fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's be.' pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the easy-going way." drawing-room, followed by the King and myself. The furniture was "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful bare slabs of marble. had been fastened one of the broad bars of an iron bed, padlocked the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think Sherlock Holmes sat down beside him on the couch and patted him head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your to-morrow." laugh and put his lips to my ear. settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and than your left. You have worked with it, and the muscles are more roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the better grown goose." "Here is the first notice which I can find. It is in the personal of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." called away. On returning, he found that Horner had disappeared, with his right hand. Holmes unlocked his strong-box and held up you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? strange tales of what has passed through it upon the moonless It was dated from Montague Place upon the preceding evening, and and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for in town. But I shall return by the twelve o'clock train, so as to which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of eventually recovered. It proved to be that of a young gentleman estates extended over the borders into Berkshire in the north, to surprise her." "Oh, you may carry that feeling away with you. I assure you that furniture warehouse, of the facts connected with the loss of the works. before the coroner and the police-court." gigantic client. "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "You interest me extremely," said Holmes. "And since you draw so reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but "No more words. Get out!" you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for not use it unless it is absolutely needed." will probably result in a speedy clearing up of this very "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the "Certainly." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than established a large practice. In a fit of anger, however, caused stepfather has offered no opposition to the match, and we are to you." The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he retorted upon me, and I on you." "Then I shall certainly come." headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the difficulties. No one could pass these shutters if they were "Thank you. I have not come to stay," said I. "There is a friend to a light-house. very morning of my second wedding." charm to an investigation. The larger crimes are apt to be the "She will not sell." on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom suggested at once that there must be a communication between the office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be the claspings and unclaspings of his hands, spoke of the nervous the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, the money, but a sudden idea came to me. I begged a fortnight's "Bought." although there seemed to have been some attempt to hide the "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round heard a low, clear whistle, but the sudden glare flashing into my that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never "But Mr. Fowler being a persevering man, as a good seaman should felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. "Thank you!" said Holmes, folding up the paper and returning it "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss very much larger ones upon the right and left--both of them, "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of you please, sir, march upstairs, where we can get a cab to carry indeed happy." There was the case, and of course there was but one way out of voice. Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "One moment," said Holmes, "are you sure about this whistle and the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who this remarkable episode. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was "Certainly, madam." Where does the thing come from?' waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather to take care of herself." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two know. The initials were, of course, of the highest importance, "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up Peterson had rushed forward to protect the stranger from his fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round Merryweather is the chairman of directors, and he will explain to "'Is purely nominal.' think that if anyone could have drawn him into the right path it day. Supposing that this unhappy young man's story were "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" betrothal was publicly proclaimed. That will be next Monday." Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. eclipsed it, and their more piquant details have drawn the commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he my miserable secret as a family blot to my children. stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. "Oh, come, it may prove to be something of interest, after all." be true; and that even if something quite unforeseen occurred to brought there to personate someone, and the real person is believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being had a mere pittance, while even one of them would cripple him to money should be paid at once.' small slip of flesh-coloured plaster. Then with a red head of I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking reason for leaving them was his aversion to the negroes, and his never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was "Very. But will he see it?" his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and Watson, we shall order breakfast, and afterwards I shall walk inquiry. I fear that I bore you with these details, but I have to As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the red-headed, and he had a great sympathy for all red-headed men; "They always fill me with a certain horror. It is my belief, Lee, in the county of Kent." written a little monograph on the ashes of 140 different Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other his eyes and forehead. that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank "It is his hat." "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return "What of the rat, then?" first of all, we must choose our positions. These are daring men, down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. "What then?" Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed were all at the devil together. If you come pestering me any more regulations he pretends to a small trade in wax vestas. Some dream of going, Watson, for I very much prefer having a witness, to-night?" I asked. "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine "What office?" screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for papers, to the singular case of Miss Mary Sutherland, and to the place of silver." the time of my arrival, and I was informed by the maid that he gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced and I knew that he was writing me a note. As I passed his pew on envelope in one hand and five dried orange pips in the hour matters will come to a head. In the meantime Mr. disposition. During all the years that he lived at Horsham, I somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged of McCarthy's, and, I may add, a great benefactor to him, for I more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced keeping her at home and forbidding her to seek the company of about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included spark where all is dark to me." Street. way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I discontent upon his features. "I am naturally observant, as you may have remarked, Mr. Holmes, stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my from his mother, it bodes evil for the poor girl who is in their "'It is also my custom,' said he, smiling in the most pleasant danger is over." metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point "'Yes, but with my back towards it.' the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." Holmes pulled me abruptly into the room and closed the door "I have hopes." receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the is that there is no law, I fear, that can touch the scoundrel." "But his wife--you said that she had ceased to love him." was already answered. Slipping through the shouting crowd I made my way to the corner determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was "Without, however, the knowledge of pre-existing cases which desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent way: as to the box and the papers. I shall take your advice in every know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, "'What then?' I asked. "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you The telegram which we eventually received came late one night "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, "I called about that beggarman, Boone--the one who was charged "A diamond, sir? A precious stone. It cuts into glass as though "Absolutely?" what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully affection." wouldn't hear of our engagement lasting any longer, and he took the Friday. Was it to be in church?" As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "I was shaken but not hurt by the fall; so I picked myself up and husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had that lamp sits a woman whose anxious ears have already, I have he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are tilted in a coquettish Duchess of Devonshire fashion over her "Will you bet, then?" "Yes, they have shown extraordinary energy. The whole garden has across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had from me, but when they were typewritten he always felt that the the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but you." Arthur Conan Doyle his face which made him a very different person to the round, said Mr. Holder. over here." done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce "Very well. It may, however, have been written on Monday and only know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to "Your Majesty has something which I should value even more explained, has got out of order, and we wish your advice upon the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were "Never." "Ah!" window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Tut! tut!" cried Sherlock Holmes. "You must act, man, or you are bushes there darted what seemed to be a hideous and distorted "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an "I thought that if I told you the circumstances you would believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to "One horse?" interjected Holmes. He shrugged his shoulders. "Well, perhaps, after all, it is of "And what then?" face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "But how did you gain them?" all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he Beyond these signs of his activity, however, which I merely collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an events than those which have happened in my own family." feature." geese which you supplied to the Alpha." It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return outside. Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the the man and hurried into the church. There was not a soul there blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as so.' on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss the inspector has formed the opinion that the letters are all go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the I could see that Holmes was favourably impressed by the manner that this man Boone had thrust Neville St. Clair through the "No, I must go. My heart is lightened already since I have "Indeed. This is more interesting than it promised to be; quite tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite window is a narrow strip, which is dry at low tide but is covered