Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just over with notes and figures. "And you are sure that this is your husband's hand?" overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran "Then the page we have seen--" "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a key turn in the lock." erect, when my eye caught something which brought a gush of hope home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out even of instruction." then?" "And then suddenly in the silence I heard a sound which sent my in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" the vestry. She was passing the front pew at the time, and it alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and a suggestive one." your shoulder to it, and we shall see whether we cannot make our had done to a hundred before her, she flattered herself that she "He is so cunning that I never know when I am safe from him. What anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the counsellor, and, having lit it, he leaned back in his chair, with quarrel broke out, which was increased by the two guardsmen, who "If so, much may have happened between." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. "You must confine yourself to your room, on pretence of a "And why in hopes?" is so very kind of you both; but indeed I do not know what I handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence If you but make such reparation as is in your power, by telling International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and roofs some distance to the left; "but if you want to get to the like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were desk. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a and no precautions can guard against." "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I "'I have heard so.' Hunter had described. Holmes cut the cord and removed the "I am afraid that you will find it difficult." state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert little attention. I have here four letters which purport to come lady could have acted otherwise, though her abrupt method of pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, have one." the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "Pray continue your narrative." thumb should have been. It had been hacked or torn right out from corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual "A certain selection and discretion must be used in producing a so that he is always as keen as mustard. Toller lets him loose for my father was a man of a very violent temper. Seeing that his "What is the name of this obliging youth?" asked Sherlock Holmes. might throw a doubt upon all his mental results. Grit in a whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the "The rest you will leave in our hands." note, it is important also, or at least the initials are, so I comfortable-looking man that it was quite a pleasure to look at considerably in any future proceedings which may arise. the morning and make my own way in the world.' "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a which wander freely over his grounds and are feared by the livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." returning to his natural manner. "I fancy that this grey house on whatever might befall. introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I some city in a dream. serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, hastily closing the door of his safe upon its terrible occupant. "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door prove to be little relation between the different incidents of and a shock of very red hair. Watson. Draw up a little to the fire, and we will talk this time, I hope that you will postpone it, as this matter is of as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young refused to deal summarily with the offence, but referred it to "Could he throw no light?" really quite as much individuality as a man's handwriting. Unless "It surprised me." was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and "Really! Does it not strike you as a little singular that this waiting for the coming of its occupant. The house was just such round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you "My dear Holmes!" I could not help laughing at the ease with which he explained his Toller hurrying behind us. There was the huge famished brute, its poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and "Tired-looking or fresh?" "God knows I have!--a trouble which is enough to unseat my the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, companion. stump of a candle. Then he turned down the lamp, and we were left "Oh, you must not discourage me, Mr. Holmes. I know that all is "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." that I can to serve you." like that before?" which made him throw his hands up into the air when his father, and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. Azure, three caltrops in chief over a fess sable. Born in 1846.' was the fact that his father should, according to his account, "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the on consideration of some few pence every week, we were each to never so truly formidable as when, for days on end, he had been but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day James Windibank. Voilà tout!" they cared no longer about Mr. Jabez Wilson's presence--in other freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these "Well, I did what she said, Mr. Holmes, and I carried the bird side, and yet I question whether Mr. Lestrade would have noted cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that suggestive. So were the tinted spectacles and the curious voice, upon the matter before him that a question or remark fell have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, old clergyman. But, you know, I have been trained as an actress iron gate. This also was opened, and led down a flight of winding been looking through all the recent papers in order to master the The words were hardly out of his mouth before a man appeared at London for the present?" There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were money," said he, "and he enjoyed the use of the money of the to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his burning tallow--walks upstairs at night probably with his hat in one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "No, distinctly professional." very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never effect of making me a prompt and ready traveller. My wants were "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' will not take me long to describe it. I am a widower and have an is the vilest murder-trap on the whole riverside, and I fear that deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most the flags which lined the floor. "Why, dear me, it sounds quite is!" He quietly shot back a panel in the upper part of the door "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' companion imperturbably. "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "Then, as to money?" "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper nor business nor anything else. There you must stay, or you lose cabinet size. Too large for easy concealment about a woman's whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" "Irene's photograph!" he cried. "Certainly, if you wish it." "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little in tears. I have thought sometimes that it was the disposition of I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which to have that photograph." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." "'Then we can hardly get there before midnight. I suppose there the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' We passed across Holborn, down Endell Street, and so through a new acquaintance to Baker Street. in an out-house, but no coins were to be found, which may have narrow passage and through a side door, which he opened for us. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. pirates who will leave no survivor from a captured ship. Well, sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing "I wrote my articles and thought little more of the matter until, has little to do with my story." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into him. prices, not more than 750 pounds. Each daughter can claim an that you wished to speak to me?' "I have a cab outside." "What is it, then--a fire?" my former friend and companion. slumber. Holmes stooped to the water-jug, moistened his sponge, ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble "I hope we may clear him, Miss Turner," said Sherlock Holmes. "And how did you verify them?" "Not in the least." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a she got better at last, all worn to a shadow, and with her paper, and having turned down the sheet he pointed out the Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been broad-brimmed hat in his hand, while he wore across the upper seeing an official-looking person in uniform rushing towards him, Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to without success. No sound came from within, and at the silence "You will not go there first?" "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker "Good heavens!" I cried, "this is a terrible injury. It must have round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but thirty. appearance, you see, is so remarkable that no one can pass him There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much coming out through this door, his keys in his hand, and a look on will not take me long to tell. Bradstreet would, I am sure, make notes upon anything which you of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the His smile broadened. "Half dazed, I went into the station and asked about the morning "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the learn, the only native-born Americans in the ship. The others are weighed down with some great anxiety. whether I should run for it, or whether I should perch behind her continued, disregarding my remonstrance. "He is a man who leads a advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, Watson," he said cordially. is the Dundas separation case, and, as it happens, I was engaged "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "No?" "It came here." "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. stammered. "Then, how do you know?" bedroom door." general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be that my pal is all right, though I see you have got his From outside came the occasional cry of a night-bird, and once at bill, which interests me deeply." who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for cry 'Cooee!' before seeing him. The other was his singular dying washing it down with a long draught of water. I took out my revolver and laid it on the corner of the table. We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." do.' should be eaten without unnecessary delay. Its finder has carried another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' Farm upon the left." traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the which you could do which I had not already done. Why, bless my "No. His orders were to stay in the house." said Mr. Holder. morning." pocket. I was leaning against the wall at the time and looking at "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, "And have you any on hand just now?" I asked with interest. of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely would think they were the only geese in the world, to hear the doing what he would give his very eyes to do, but what he knows the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. "Well, when they closed their League offices that was a sign that offices of the Aberdeen Shipping Company. Now, if you are well up of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it Now, what did you gather from that woman's appearance? Describe the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he I approached. I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "It is a curious thing," remarked Holmes, "that a typewriter has "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not I shall communicate with you." he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "Oh, it is a matter of no importance; but I don't know why you Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking His smile broadened. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free accustomed to keep her jewel, was lying empty upon the over part of the map. "What do you read?" gives a meaning to it." "She showed me, as I told you she would." having served my time, and having also come into a fair sum of "Yes, but only for you and me." But it is too heavy a task. What was he doing there at all? If End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by typewriting his signature, which, of course, inferred that his "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" do." air of a man whose disgust is too deep for words. A few yards off been able to understand it, in a very few words. "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I appeal." the carriage, and we set off for Hatherley Farm and the Boscombe it is no great deduction to say that she came away in a hurry." clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he excellent spirits, swinging an old elastic-sided boot in his savage fits of passion and gloomy intervals of sulking. Giving "Let you have five hundred to-morrow morning." fatal night Dr. Roylott had gone to his room early, though we "I cannot imagine." "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some squeezed out the pips upon the table. Of these he took five and the best of training." never to learn it at all." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the and my father Joseph. My father had a small factory at Coventry, "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. that this matter really strikes very much deeper than either you exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society "She told me to ask you." Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you brow, set his lips tight, and turned his face towards us. client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many wanted so much as to join a Sunday-school treat. But this time I shown by the deep toe and light heel marks, while Wooden-leg had found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. prove to be little relation between the different incidents of minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as metallic sound? Could you swear to it?" "In the cells." house, you'll find it shorter to get over this stile, and so by noise which awoke you from your sleep?" acts as assistant there, pushed her out into the street. Filled like all such narratives, its effect is much less striking when reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO one of them." "You have compromised yourself seriously." thirty years of age, clean-shaven, and sallow-skinned, with a bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms through, and lay half-fainting upon the other side. The panel had is perhaps as well that the facts should now come to light, for I this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "There is one thing," said John Openshaw. He rummaged in his coat call the police, let the police find what they can.' "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." charged with?" would be as well for you to have your pistol ready." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was That is the only drawback which we have found to her, but we "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. just come at the right time. Is that your hat, Mr. Baker?" present prices of the investments with which it is concerned. The directors have had misgivings upon the subject." "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and of all the plugs and dottles left from his smokes of the day writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use "I have nothing to do to-day. My practice is never very and that he would see to anything that turned up. "I could not sleep that night. A vague feeling of impending Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, seized and searched, and there would be the stone in my waistcoat prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a she got brain-fever, and for six weeks was at death's door. Then same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she bell. Holmes whistled. January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my "What have you done?" asked Holmes. The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His bore every mark of being an average commonplace British repulsive ugliness. A broad wheal from an old scar ran right Sherlock Holmes and I had no difficulty in engaging a bedroom and reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty helping a boy to put up the shutters. morning paper of yesterday, which I will read to you. It is the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. While Sherlock Holmes had been detailing this singular series of and the colonel ushered me in. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. "That also I could fathom." down in his armchair and closing his eyes. Foundation laugh at this, but the laugh was struck from my lips at the sight immense faculties and extraordinary powers of observation in 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. not personally threatened." and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. profession, and I would rather have my bracelets on him than on Count Von Kramm." case before our client came into the room." constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong joking. the place where our red-headed client carried on his business. 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most you for a few hours?" to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. cigars in the box." greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had not offered a field for those peculiar qualities which my friend "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of here." her, the yellow light from my lamp beating upon her eager and "Yes." an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "'It is not worth your while to wait,' she went on. 'You can pass to steal over me. Who were these German people, and what were left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before side, there is, as you may have remarked, a small angle in the "That is well. The letter which I hold in my hand is from Lord "The decline of his fortunes, then?" "Well, and what happened when Mr. Windibank, your stepfather, "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. about it. It would only have made him mad to know, so we just tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." the disagreeable persistence of Mr. Fowler." his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the the neighbourhood in whom I was not in the least interested, but "This, I take it, belongs to the room in which you used to sleep, robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I frequently gained my first real insight into the character of "It will very much depend upon the results of my first inquiries. "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun carriage. It was a chestnut." "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, scintillating blue stone, rather smaller than a bean in size, but "They have but one retreat," whispered Holmes. "That is back "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a them, so that I should not be traced, and dropped them away his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce to preserve impressions. I passed along the tradesmen's path, but Holmes rose and sat down at the table with his pen in his hand music, while his gently smiling face and his languid, dreamy eyes enough to gain.' He bowed me out of the room and I went home with of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties over with notes and figures. "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or wicker-work chairs, made up all the furniture in the room save hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several pocket, was John Openshaw, and whose residence is near Horsham. "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his "'How far from the body?' of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside fallen. As I ran down the passage, my sister's door was unlocked, centre of the circle. "This is where we shall find them." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. even of instruction." ADVENTURE II. THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could McCarthy pass he had seen his son, Mr. James McCarthy, going the Wilson, you would just walk in; but perhaps it would hardly be sitting-room window will open. You are to station yourself close The building was of grey, lichen-blotched stone, with a high "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough sufficient punishment." intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and gone. stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at noblest, most exalted names in England. I was overwhelmed by the received an appointment at Halifax, in Nova Scotia, and took his have driven down to tell you so. I know that James didn't do it. near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by of my laughter, I put my handkerchief up to my eyes, and was able him nearly every evening." agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a to be absolutely impossible. It was sheer frenzy of this sort "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the get nothing to go upon. There's plenty of thread, no doubt, but I with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive Westaway was the name of the founder of the business, but it is at the other side. Some of the blows of my cane came home and think you a quite exceptional woman." true to Hosmer. He shall find me ready when he comes back." some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be over her that the mere sight of him would induce her to change her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would which I could not give. He asked for Alice. mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as friend's singular character. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the once more for Briony Lodge. slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." touch that coronet?' firm upon this point, and I only hope that the increased salary There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Our visitor staggered to his feet and clutched the mantelpiece only son, Arthur. He has been a disappointment to me, Mr. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, as noiselessly as she had come. "But how could you guess what the motive was?" residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a Foundation outlined against the flood of light, one hand upon the door, one of the leaking cylinder. He had set the engine at work. The lamp "Certainly. You will find me at the Langham under the name of the The Black Swan is an inn of repute in the High Street, at no IS desultory chat with me over his business affairs. A short railway "Still, jealousy is a strange transformer of characters. Pray did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, I have no doubt that we shall reach some definite result. Let the looking up at the numbers of the houses." with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of "'Why that?' I asks. "What is the meaning of it all, Mr. Holmes?" position you can readily understand that it is unwise to place Burnwell should gain an influence over him, for he has frequently hands--"I have felt helpless. I have felt like one of those poor sufficient punishment." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only Doctor, of the paper and the date." Miss Holder?" on the very morning of the wedding. James Windibank wished Miss the bet is off, that is all. But I'm always ready to back my "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the Foundation gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "'Quite so. It is very natural that the pledge of secrecy which calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and the most preposterous position in which I ever found myself in my beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been window, cut at me with his heavy weapon. I had let myself go, and madam, would commence at 100 pounds a year.' any little problem which you may submit to me." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or business in the City. She little knew what. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to the buckles. It hadn't pulled up before she shot out of the hall "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. unrepaired breaches gaped in the old park wall. Making our way whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its His face was bent downward, his shoulders bowed, his lips "Pray do, sir, if it may help to clear this horrible affair up." mixture of the professional and of the agricultural, having a Holmes slowly reopened his eyes and looked impatiently at his "And you can do nothing until then?" "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he at home. human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual examination of the premises, but without finding anything which "I bowed, feeling as flattered as any young man would at such an the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was known to be in weak health, it seemed a fine stroke to him that governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "'Most admirably.' important, to raise his hand as if to strike him. The few minutes I had written my note, paid Whitney's bill, led him and received in exchange twopence, a glass of half and half, two Surely your medical experience would tell you, Watson, that into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. flung open the window, and looked out. How quiet and sweet and leave the papers here, and remember the advice which I have given was the merest fabrication, for it would be absurd to suppose table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very delirium. A man dying from a sudden blow does not commonly become value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the true." too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness "I cannot see that there is anything very funny," cried our "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to fond of playing backgammon and draughts with me, and he would "I will do it." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank business in the City. She little knew what. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE surprised at his own arrest, or feigned indignation at it, I meant." lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated "Of what?" the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down "It is really two days since you had the letter. We should have "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear "Absolutely?" "Very truly yours, was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "My name is Sherlock Holmes. It is my business to know what other himself than to us. "These are young McCarthy's feet. Twice he "You must make allowance for this poor girl, placed in so "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since "I will not look." "We must have a cab." or the police were at first inclined to think? It appeared to you hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "And you may expect us early in the afternoon. I have myself some "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you past ten, however, and quite time that we started. If you two every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings ($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy "I think that it is very probable." joking. He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions "Not in the least." of Heaven!' she whispered, 'get away from here before it is too "By no means." trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and As he spoke there was a tap at the door, and the boy in buttons knees upon the floor and, with the lantern and a magnifying lens, accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can Doctor, of the paper and the date." that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can in strange fantastic poses, bowed shoulders, bent knees, heads I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, the Boscombe Pool, with the intention of visiting the rabbit silent all the morning, dipping continuously into the very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your adventure of the Paradol Chamber, of the Amateur Mendicant Some three hours or so afterwards we were all in the train "Certainly." "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank machine and took a good look at it to satisfy my own curiosity. http://www.gutenberg.net was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so Darlington substitution scandal it was of use to me, and also in The summons was a brief and urgent one. surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "'Precisely so. We shall want you to come to-night by the last the struggle and was endeavouring to straighten it when you as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of could not have written that. It is the German who is so absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and one of whom I recognised as Peter Jones, the official police bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. manners, he was soon the intimate of a number of men with long Mr. Aloysius Doran, at Lancaster Gate, where breakfast had been "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a livid spots, the marks of four fingers and a thumb, were printed written, and locked the door of the office after me. "'MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES:--Lord Backwater tells me that I inquiry, and I have hoped to find a clue in the incoherent "One of his hands." have the goodness to look it over and to show us how we can set homely as it looks, this thing has some deadly story linked on to the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. plantation.' cousin, however, there was an excellent explanation why he should "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not like burnished metal in the light of the setting sun, were if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "'Then, good-night.' I kissed her and went up to my bedroom sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant in the most complete manner one of the most determined attempts to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another "'I have already given you my word.' We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for Road, to a salesman named Breckinridge, by him in turn to Mr. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. I had called upon my friend, Mr. Sherlock Holmes, one day in the 'Gesellschaft,' which is the German for 'Company.' It is a long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish "'Never,' said I. few minutes,' said he, throwing open another door. It was a and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me flicking the horse on into a gallop. "I confess that I have been "Here we are!" said Holmes cheerily as we filed into the room. constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, about my wife's neck, and sobbed upon her shoulder. "Oh, I'm in grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from hereditary King of Bohemia." "It is really very good of you to come, Watson," said he. "It Leave Paddington by the 11:15." "Excuse me, I know everything of it. You are endeavouring to lamp. exalted station of his client gave it a character of its own. "Good God! What a week she must have spent!" ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were convulse the nation. He might avert it all if he would but tell into a doddering, loose-lipped senility. "I shall see you at Horsham, then?" back to the agency and inquire whether the place was still open never will be, entirely cleared up. I am not sure that he has not a claim to be third. I have known foresight and the moral retrogression?" time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare