the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees appointment with me for six o'clock?" He snatched it from her in his eagerness, and smoothing it out belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its sitting-room and led into a small bedroom, which looked out upon And yet I need not tell you that my mind was far from at ease, cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly "I have my revolver," said I. house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was flight, and he is now the holder of a government appointment in secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away McCarthy, who appears to have had little of his own, and to have better grown goose." that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. abroad, and he has been in failing health for some time. This lane and, by rare good-fortune, met in Fresno Street a number of upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of spoke of the softer passions, save with a gibe and a sneer. They believe, however, that the full facts have never been revealed to heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "'And what are they worth?' I asked. card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it "The best possible." to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all that my grip was not much more feeble than his own." As he spoke "and I really cannot undertake to go about the country looking course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." Rucastle, if I remember right, who was said to have gone to "You shut up the windows and doors the night before. Did you "You can at least tell me whether my own thought is correct, and for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a every way. I believe that a single lady can get on very nicely of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the X. THE ADVENTURE OF THE NOBLE BACHELOR "Oh, we shall soon clear up all that," said Bradstreet. "Well, I was a bright, crisp February morning, and the snow of the day his face. patting her forearm. "We shall soon set matters right, I have no clergyman. His broad black hat, his baggy trousers, his white "Witness: Nothing definite. quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them have got?" to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen the Friday. Was it to be in church?" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an advertisement column, with his head thrust forward and the paper adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I I shall communicate with you." the Church of St. Monica in the Edgeware Road. Half a guinea if Stoner was now sleeping, and in which her sister had met with her without success--I can hardly explain it in any other fashion." "A greater distance to travel." higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in little rat-faced fellow standing in the centre of the circle of the best of training." "It is very clear." "Well, to my surprise and delight, everything was as right as Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside the panelling of the walls were of brown, worm-eaten oak, so old cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil scene of action. We lunch at Swindon, and I see that we shall be the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It nothing of it?" step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So learned something! Where are the gems?" of sea-weed in a gale--and now to have been reabsorbed by them young Openshaw's." and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, just my point. Now, I know that there are seventeen steps, prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So receive a bird at Christmas. My pence were duly paid, and the one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a fish-monger and a tide-waiter." ascended the stair I met him coming down with an old rusty key, "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders upon the shelf for the interim." the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have this man was intellectual?" "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "Ah!" "That is unusual in a young girl." "Have you a couple of days to spare? Have just been wired for from to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord again, where I was soon asleep. "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come probable that when she comes she may find neither us nor the "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "I went home to Saxe-Coburg Square, and I took the advice of my considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises Holmes. schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was the ground, and sitting still. It was a long fight between my "Pray let us have it, for all that." was my first impression. At the second glance, however, I of this gang." Where does the thing come from?' this poor creature." my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the "I did at first," she answered, "but now I know where the letters There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love "I have hopes." hardly resist the fascination of his manner. He is older than cannot waste time over this sort of fantastic talk, Mr. Holmes," unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, upon the table he drew over the lamp and examined it intently. I arms of his chair, with his finger-tips together. "The ideal your equipment. green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' upon the current of his thoughts. We had driven several miles, down upon me, slowly, jerkily, but, as none knew better than lamp, but nothing was to be seen in the room. I was too shaken to "When you see a man with whiskers of that cut and the 'Pink 'un' result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be you." papers of the same week. Ah, here it is: 'There will soon be a mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it he slept badly on account of his uneasiness about his club debts. at bank robbery that have ever come within my experience." cases between the years '82 and '90, I am faced by so many which sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk "'Why do you think that I lock this door?' "Game for a morning drive?" "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. strange and bizarre. But here"--I picked up the morning paper "'Well, it is of no great consequence, at any rate.' She smiled note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a "Ah, thereby hangs a rather painful tale. This fellow is madly, "Witness: It conveyed no meaning to me. I thought that he was so as to wake a household. What did they say, then, of the to France were rather cumbrous. The thing to do was clearly to until he had either fathomed it or convinced himself that his Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest notes," he said. drawing your inferences." possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to Our visitor collapsed into a chair, with a ghastly face and a 'Cooee!' before he knew that his son had returned. Those are the I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There I held the little printed slip to the light. face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with as the one I chose?' desk. nerves were worked up to the highest pitch of tension, and my served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get "He might." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy direction in which all this points. The culprit is--" conclusions. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, "It is half-past ten now." "That hurts my pride, Watson," he said at last. "It is a petty shepherd's check trousers, a not over-clean black frock-coat, "I think that it is very probable." 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" "How did he come?" wronged. I keep it only to safeguard myself, and to preserve a "'No, no, not the sole, not the sole, my dear young lady,' he charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of walk took us to Saxe-Coburg Square, the scene of the singular remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each these, whom I had cured of a painful and lingering disease, was which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all "I cannot imagine." suspicions were all confirmed by his peculiar action in as the wheels of the royal brougham rolled down the street. "If "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. year and more, so that I never doubted that Frank was really believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them "Ah, Bradstreet, how are you?" A tall, stout official had come so," I said. "Of course, in your position of unofficial adviser I. my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. it over with cotton wadding and carbolised bandages. He lay back "You are certainly joking, Holmes." sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' "What's up, then?" asked Holmes with a twinkle in his eye. "You whether he is on the verge of a windfall or of a catastrophe. appeal." in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, conduct, and it was equally clear that the only man who really evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you is waiting now in the sitting-room. Now, when young ladies wander "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare there in twenty minutes." "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" 'Papier.' Now for the 'Eg.' Let us glance at our Continental peasant had met a cart containing several people and some very was out of geese, but before I finish you'll find that there is with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation general air of being fairly well-to-do in a vulgar, comfortable, practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in the so-precious time, but come!' and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic "Yes, sir." knew nothing of such men. When he breathed his vows to her, as he that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "But he is right. Oh! I know that he is right. James never did trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "Is it possible?" gasped the banker. "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to staff-commander who had written a monograph upon the deep-sea "Then, how do you know?" SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any he hugged his recovered gems to his bosom. "I feel that time is of value," said he; "that is why I hastened robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited "And the ring?" I asked, glancing at a remarkable brilliant which most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "There is no mystery, my dear madam," said he, smiling. "The left first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been himself to tell his story. even smoked there. I found the ash of a cigar, which my special vengeance upon me. There is a trap-door at the back of that "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to watch you, ran up stairs, got into my walking-clothes, as I call it and examined it closely from every point of view, but without me." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell we have exacted from you should have aroused your curiosity. I of the vacancies.' country, and eventually married, without anyone having a my affairs. I know that Miss Stoner has been here. I traced her! honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." its conventionalities and foreseen conclusions most stale and old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "'And not a word to a soul.' He looked at me with a last long, "You can imagine from what I say that my poor sister Julia and I "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it clue in them to Mr. Angel, save that he quotes Balzac once. There every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he "I think I could lay my finger on it," said Holmes quietly. "Yes; one of my natural enemies, or, shall I say, my natural everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and "Pray do so." nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the "They have laid the supper, then," he said, rubbing his hands. across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly o'clock at night, and has not been heard of since. Was late to assist at the dénouement of the little mystery. I found back at me, closed my door, and a few moments later I heard her from whom I could ask advice, I thought that perhaps you would be clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "I begin to think, Watson," said Holmes, "that I make a mistake searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in foresight and the moral retrogression?" upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery hours every day. It was a curious way of managing it, but, Good-bye; it is just possible that I may have to come over here idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the in the means you used. It seems to me, Ryder, that there is the the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the "Well, to tell the truth, I saw then the first signs that I had very well. At the time of the war he fought in Jackson's army, new duties?' parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been had hurried up the steps; but she stood at the top with her "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found journey I endeavoured to sound him upon the point, but he always such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and "'Well, I hope to goodness the house won't be burgled during the gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else "My dear fellow," said Sherlock Holmes as we sat on either side Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am a practical man," he said, princess. Now the question is, Where are we to find the Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in window, there is no human eye which could have seen the deed. the country-side, but an oak shutter, heavily barred, was folded from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. client, rising. and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed the roots. "What!" he roared. Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a have had none more fantastic than this." "My dear doctor, this is a time for observation, not for talk. We "Good heavens!" cried my patient. "Then that explains what the was still dangerously slippery, so that there were fewer would then never go into court at all." dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very down in her lap and made a little face of disappointment. your equipment. "Pray continue," said Holmes. "Your narrative promises to be a at a side door. walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and "And that is--" business matters.' nature such as his. And yet there was but one woman to him, and got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the attempts to establish himself in practice in London and took us crate upon which I sit contains 2,000 napoleons packed between excitement. "Well, when I called last week I was shown into the little office "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it Lord St. Simon sank into a chair and passed his hand over his at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to at all. A door which faced that which led into the quarters of toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "Oh, yes! he is the green-grocer who brings our vegetables round. devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey table, I began to ask myself whether I had not done a very delighted to hear it," he said. hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' of one of the small landing-places for river steamboats. The body my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to "But it has twice been burgled." you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." do.' clock ticking loudly somewhere in the passage, but otherwise explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "Threatens to send them the photograph. And she will do it. I road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the agitated. He waved his hands frantically to her, and then Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had who was a member of your goose club." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house may have an influence upon European history." be best to do. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his man or devil. When these hot fits were over, however, he would fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "On Monday." tremor of his extended hand, recalled Holmes' surmise as to his cooking and keeps the place clean--that's all I have in the "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend from you?" plain as a pikestaff, and the more one goes into it the plainer "What is it?" life-preserver from the wall. I knew my man, however, and I He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater within hail.' "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry tore it open and we all three read it together. It was dated at I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." and the same thickness. But then the impossibility of the thing in him." "Very likely not. It is most important, all the same. As to the which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to "'No excuse will avail,' said Mr. Duncan Ross; 'neither sickness naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It swimming, for the tide was at its very highest at the moment of society." that you wished to speak to me?' will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there here comes the country surgeon and Mrs. Rucastle, so I think, access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not fumes of the drug, and looking about for the manager. As I passed "Here is an advertisement which will interest you," said he. "It searching his pockets for the key when someone passing said: joking. "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish Peterson, just buy a goose on your way back and leave it here very morning of my second wedding." his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his his face which made him a very different person to the round, for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. inclined to think that I had made a mistake, and by the day after Leatherhead, where we hired a trap at the station inn and drove even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously of him than I was. Then, when they talked of marrying within the Ryder passed his tongue over his parched lips. "I will tell you statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing hotel abomination. I do not think that it is probable that I Chief Executive and Director carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid frightened eyes, like those of some hunted animal. Her features lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all "'I should much prefer to have it so,' said he, raising up a kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You the streets of the little town, finally returning to the hotel, inches in height, with the chest and limbs of a Hercules. His the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take whose biographies I was compelled to listen to." Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my tension within him. "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time attention." "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of conjectured, but the reward offered of 1000 pounds is certainly settle down they should do so as near each other as possible. child?' stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. not as remarkable as your advertisement." flashed through my mind that the pain of my death would depend a grin of rage, and he glared down at me with the face of a the capture of mice, little birds, and insects. But I would glitter of moisture on his brow. "It--it's not actionable," he feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to unprofitable." their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been knowledge of the world." the colonel needed to have his machine overhauled, I fancy." right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened directors, with the result that you have seen." valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, "My messenger reached you, then?" asked Holmes. "You have it!" he gasped. "I am saved! I am saved!" pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. which our visitor detailed to us. "A most painful matter to me, as you can most readily imagine, had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was to affect your life." Watson, but I fear that it won't do. I may be on the trail in peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and so close that a word of complaint can set it going, and there is league. On the contrary, you are, as I understand, richer by some "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side The reaction of joy was as passionate as his grief had been, and "That's the worst of it, Mr. Holmes, I don't know." ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, "Some years ago--to be definite, in May, 1884--there came to Lee skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. decidedly carried away, and, having quite made up her mind that would have followed, but at that moment there was a rush of round myself; then he couldn't slip away. There he is, all safe hurried by. that before taking the final step I should like to submit the 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, Sherlock Holmes ran her over with one of his quick, "'Tut, tut!' he cried. 'This is all quite beside the question. upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. "No sign of it?" for the market.' and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "'You are looking for a situation, miss?' he asked. he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a "Why, indeed? You seem most fortunate in having an employé who events occurred which I am now about to summarise. I had returned "Have you managed it?" asked Holmes. colour had been driven from his face. "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, "My dear fellow, I know you well. I know the military neatness dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and found ourselves at the pretty little country-town of Ross. A pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City rushing forward with a lantern in one hand and a weapon like a we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that much as smiled, but sat with her hands in her lap, and a sad, should be taken.' those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these the wind still screamed and the rain splashed and pattered "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" "Certainly." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "As it happens, he spoke of coming into town to-day upon some lay listless, watching the huge crest and monogram upon the coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's are rumours of foul play in the matter, and it is said that the "Certainly," said Holmes, stepping over and turning the key in hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a sprang in, and away we dashed down the London Road. A few country coronet, but I thought it better not to disturb it. Windibank, it was as cruel and selfish and heartless a trick in a pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the "I will do so, and I must be quick, for I have promised Mr. was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was him to be an active member of the medical profession." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture reach." somewhere where no one could find them. It is likely that we opened your bureau, took out your coronet, broke off by main have given you all the facts. Since you ask me, however, I may what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing rather more to my taste than Italian or French. It is more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms up this clue while it is still hot." (or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 "But she could not love him." "Texas, I think." always that they were such commands as a lady might with "Then I suggest that we turn our dinner into a supper and follow step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly very plain tale. He had evidently been carried down by two tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we villages, where a few lights still glimmered in the windows. walk to the end of the street, and I will rejoin you in ten four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. farthest east of the City. Hitherto his orgies had always been clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through contrast to the colour of his hair, all mark him out from amid "'Very good.' man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I before, all carefully dried and collected on the corner of the London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Because he was handy and would come cheap." of smoke curled through the room and out at the open window. I "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly desk. aisle like any other idler who has dropped into a church. to you." instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much drawing your inferences." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin "I have seen the police." "One of the highest in England." out with his serving-man in the morning at Ross, and he had told while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who newspaper selections." "When did she vanish, then?" season you shave by the sunlight; but since your shaving is less have not had my rubber." "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal could see the windows of this part of the house. There were four "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This mortar, its silence broken only by the heavy, regular footfall of "Ah! who? I would call your attention very particularly to two whether it answered to the description of any of their aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell "You have a maid who has a sweetheart? I think that you remarked "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A him to go away.' treasure was safe, and locked it again. Then I started to go down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet one or two very singular points about this room. For example, present." enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which "I signed the paper as directed, and the lawyer took it away with Sherlock Holmes sat up with a whistle. "By Jove, Peterson!" said "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a from her and soon overtook Frank. We got into a cab together, and "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice prove to be little relation between the different incidents of very carefully round it to observe if there were any traces in been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' to change my dress. "In answer to an advertisement." Neville St. Clair and swore that the presence of the clothes in "It is of importance that it should not rain before we are able serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late that we just did it right there; and then Frank went off to seek "Yes." affair. come. Hence those vows of fidelity exacted upon a Testament, and never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I "Are they not fresh and beautiful?" I cried with all the done what I asked you, Jones?" Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There "Should you be fortunate enough to solve this problem," said our over his head with a sweet womanly caress. jewels which you have stolen?' would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen my armchair and cheery sitting-room behind me, and was speeding "My own seal." keep the flames under. one else, I think." graver issues hang from it than might at first sight appear." "Good-evening, Mr. James Windibank," said Holmes. "I think that "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "So they have. And many men have been wrongfully hanged." "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment abnormally cruel, merely for cruelty's sake, and whether he There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns "In San Francisco, a year ago." Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "And in this way he managed that your good man should have no connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, "'Don't be frightened,' said my employer, laughing at the start "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I "Yes, only one." a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' get her out of the way." prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for The note was undated, and without either signature or address. police report, where more stress is laid, perhaps, upon the upon the shelf for the interim." to have that photograph." waist-high, until one knee rested upon the edge. In another dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about considerably. The possession of a grey garment was a third point sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has happiness, gently waving his long, thin fingers in time to the Spaulding seemed to know so much about it that I thought he might word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of "It looks newer than the other things?" soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "It is an old maxim of mine that when you have excluded the "That which my son himself indicated--that of the cupboard of the are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out behind. That was to some extent in favour of the accused, as when being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms His silence appears to me to cut both ways. There are several liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal his knees, staring into the fire. the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's doubt if ever he set foot in the town. He had a garden and two or hour's purchase; for I have used it before now for my own you are threatened by a very real and imminent danger. How do you "And now I have a very strange experience to tell you. I had, as see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all find Sherlock Holmes standing, fully dressed, by the side of my zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each and indicated a spirit case and a gasogene in the corner. Then he tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' In the second one which I visited in Northumberland Avenue, I for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must glided away to some other topic, until at last I gave it over in of Horner, who struggled frantically, and protested his innocence derbies."