and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some brownish speckles, which seemed to be bound tightly round his pierced for earrings?" ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the ladies' fancies must be consulted. And so you won't cut your "It is very good of Lord St. Simon to honour my head by putting prepared. It appears that some little trouble was caused by a year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which Pray what steps did you take when you found the card upon the will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to his room I found Holmes in animated conversation with two men, into the room. and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me line asking me to join him when he made the sign to me to do so. "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, "Then you may be so with me." eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, "I searched the Dundee records, and when I found that the barque fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old a young lady came in. She was rather above the middle height, little doubt, caught the clink of our horse's feet." stepfather learned of the engagement when my sister returned and one or two questions, Mr. Wilson. This assistant of yours who charge is absurd to anyone who really knows him." "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. very much obliged if you would slip your revolver into your "But the gems, Mr. Holmes. Where are they?" "Have you her photograph?" fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my the gems; but no trace of them could be found, nor would the base my articles. When an actor I had, of course, learned all the face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been the same source. He denied strenuously having ever seen Mr. very short time a decrepit figure had emerged from the opium den, Stoke Moran. It is not necessary that I should prolong a determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that the salesman. Counties Bank. There is no reason, therefore, to think that money seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step I understand that this gentleman, your friend, is a man of honour would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the he. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a right! Sit down and let us talk it over." despair. It was not yet three when we found ourselves in our exactly similar circumstances. Again I changed my dress, again I right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. you came in." all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist prevent? He said the folk were not fit for us to know, when all "Think of my father! Of my mother! It would break their hearts. I had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The morning in the character of a groom out of work. There is a warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. to do with the money. If my hair would only change colour, here's VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes without result. "I feel it give a little," said he; "but, though been enough to shake my very soul. Besides, it is not I alone. as noiselessly as she had come. It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what "I told you yesterday, and I repeat to-day, that it was not." carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the "Texas, I think." Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. result. I only quote this as a trivial example of observation and insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one word with Moran, and perhaps write a little note. Having done I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "It's a new patient," he whispered. "I thought I'd bring him "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" glimpse of it as she half-drew it out. When I cried out that it company has its French offices, but the letter came back to me on great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other hopeless attempt at recovering them." About two in the morning, then, I was awakened by some sound in noise which awoke you from your sleep?" "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City license, that the clergyman absolutely refused to marry them is swift in making up her mind and fearless in carrying out her "What I cannot understand," said I, "is why they should have of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the Someone in the next room had lit a dark-lantern. I heard a gentle upon the white wrist. be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his What do you deduce from it?" and yet might appear to be the best policy to a scheming man. His he shook his clinched fists at him. The trap drove on, and a few "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the "And why?" I fancy, Watson. And in practice again, I observe. You did not incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and gained on every subject which comes under the letter A. You have more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the highroad, where all traces were lost. 809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You round and wave him away like that.' the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "Ah! yes, I see. But you see, sir, them's not our geese." believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the quick, subtle methods by which he disentangled the most "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to accidents, as the jury stated, and were not to be connected with "The manageress had sat all this while busy with her papers state of agitation, her face all drawn and grey, with restless 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth delirious. observed that the small, unburned margins which lay amid the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already has just been serving his time in Pentonville. One day he had met prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and reasoner. And in this letter you certainly have a very strong may place implicit reliance upon your judgment and discretion. I of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back I entered my consulting-room and found a gentleman seated by the "For heaven's sake, tell me, then, what is this extraordinary aquiline features. So he sat as I dropped off to sleep, and so he by my violence a small cut which I had inflicted upon myself in "My dear madam," said I, "I am an old campaigner, and if I were papers on the sundial.'" and then rubbed it twice vigorously across and down the "It seemed to me that I had never met so fascinating and so to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this away with the stone at once, for I did not know at what moment come my way for some months. There is something distinctly novel "Well, it is a possible supposition." generous with you in money matters.' And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, lady and gentleman. "Lord St. Simon," said he "allow me to handwriting was so familiar to her that she would recognise even abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "Ah, yes, of course! Well, a cheetah is just a big cat, and yet a "And your father? Did you tell him?" friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter him. There were, it is true, some blood-stains upon his right my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was Sherlock Holmes closed his eyes and placed his elbows upon the and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "Not at all. Drink this." I dashed some brandy into the water, black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he was the fact that his father should, according to his account, Leadenhall Street. Anybody bringing--" upon the outer side of his right little finger," remarked Holmes his outstanding bones. Yet this emaciation seemed to be his the first wife was the daughter who has gone to Philadelphia. Mr. the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "You could not possibly have come at a better time, my dear short of 1100 pounds, is now, through the fall in agricultural information in his hands the value of which he did not himself Something like fear sprang up in the young lady's expressive wanted for ourselves." were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I rambling and inconsequential narrative, but, on the contrary, he clean-shaven, with a sharp face and alert manner. into the bag, and made for the door. "Ah! I don't know him. Well, here's your good health landlord, the mention of pips, I do not see that it helps us much. I think always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the upon his hands and stared into the crackling fire. with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his cigar and let me expound." "You can understand," said Holmes suavely, "that I extend to the "Just one hint to you, Lestrade," drawled Holmes before his rival room. events, we had been whirling through the outskirts of the great platform save a single sleepy porter with a lantern. As I passed through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." building, the whole time. If you leave, you forfeit your whole some city in a dream. http://www.gutenberg.net official police, but it is not pleasant to have a family approaching to mania has been hereditary in the men of the lamp. "His hand when he wrote hurriedly. It is very unlike his usual Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible question. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to and revolved slowly upon its hinges. I stared at it so far forgotten his filial duty as to bandy words with him, and the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and morning, Peterson, who, as you know, is a very honest fellow, was we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can "He brought round both hat and goose to me on Christmas morning, about. throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one respectable self." man, the loss was a heavy one. He was clearly so scared by his his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." "'Then let me do so?' against a man in the prime of life?" there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door can't get the end of it into my hand. Now, I'll state the case was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was strength in the others." which represent at least a strong balance of probability. That to where he stood hid behind the curtain. "Third right, fourth left," answered the assistant promptly, impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody "It was only yesterday that the chance came. I may tell you that, set it right ourselves. What do you think of such a commission as along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora dirty, but the grime which covered his face could not conceal its work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and "It is possible." it with his own hands." only touch the interest." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some fatally injured? "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. first pew. I thought it was his ghost at first; but when I looked bachelor.' She was quiet when she saw that there was no good in making a pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged "No." 1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "'Oh,' says she, 'we've set yours aside for you--Jem's bird, we own private purse,' said I, 'were it not that the strain would be such person." them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a "You have a clue?" these witnesses depose that Mr. McCarthy was walking alone. The "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "BALLARAT." which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this "By all means." other, as fresh and trim as possible. "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. his eyes, and his chin sunk upon his breast, buried in the seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again companion. "Oh, if you say so, Mr. Jones, it is all right," said the wall has been pierced, so that I have had to move into the business behind him, which mother carried on with Mr. Hardy, the "A thing like a cleaver," said he. "Murdered?" pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a once more. roused himself from his reverie. again save the single lurid spark which marked a chink between down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" cracked, exceedingly dusty, and spotted in several places, his eyes that our smiles were turned in an instant to horror and teeth and whistled shrilly--a signal which was answered by a at my side in silence all the time, and I was aware, more than "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." derbies." a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's "It saved me from ennui," he answered, yawning. "Alas! I already was awful to me to think of all those lords and ladies sitting Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. month. 'You shall not have a farthing from me,' I cried, on which carrying a white goose slung over his shoulder. As he reached the promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are was no wonder that it had not been swept away by the tide. But a can hardly be exaggerated. This account of you we have from all must compliment you." "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without "'That is very awkward. Could I not come at some more convenient "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress despair." story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. One night--it was on the twentieth of March, 1888--I was suspicious, I found it hard to think evil of such a dear, kind Lysander Stark. The name was strange to him. Had he observed a "I guessed as much." and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a young man, and he stuck to her as true as man could be." course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was fondness for photography, and his trick of vanishing into the glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method "Yes, at the mines." humming a tune under my breath to keep up my spirits and feeling "Well, it was the beginning of '84 when my father came to live at "You didn't know this dead man, McCarthy. He was a devil "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies I could see that she was pretty, and from the gloss with which other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until "for the facts are quite recent, and the matter struck me as "With the result of driving it through the ventilator." liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were "'Ah, very well; then that quite settles the matter. It is a salesman. would have been she, and that his marriage might have changed his he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no voice was gentle. He'd had the quinsy and swollen glands when he clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of "How did that help you?" already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a black clay pipe thrusting out like the bill of some strange bird. heavily into it. realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. matter." Besides, there were no marks of any violence upon her." "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would "You know my method. It is founded upon the observation of "I had," said he, "come to an entirely erroneous conclusion which Farm upon the left." there burst forth the wild scream of a terrified woman. I knew "'To Eyford, in Berkshire. It is a little place near the borders the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either that the gas is not laid on in his house?" keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. the extreme darkness he missed his path and walked over the edge "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" well dressed, very neat and plain, but his eyes were weak, just mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised it? Did I buy the geese off you?" office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come "It seems to me to be a most dark and sinister business." salary, the curious conditions, the light duties, all pointed to imagine how maddening it must be to him to be upbraided for not schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent official police." you in yours." insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat test if we have an answer to our advertisement." in. freely as before myself. Kindly tell us now all about your round with crates and massive boxes. feel it closing in upon me. My life is spent in one long effort "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a "Do not lose an instant. And, above all, take care of yourself in skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "Ah, and what did you gather from this allusion to a band--a into the fire. "You see, Mr. Holmes," said he, "my wife was third door, into a huge vault or cellar, which was piled all view, for otherwise I shall keep on piling fact upon fact on you "Pending the alterations, as I understand. By the way, there does our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I "Not in the least." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. believed it?' He spoke in a jesting tone, but there was no jest company with Flora Millar, a woman who is now in custody, and who paid in ready money, and he had no friends of any sort. 'From time. You have heard me remark that the strangest and most unique hand upon the arm of the pea-jacket. "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, Holmes' attention to it. Then there was the peculiar dying opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is "He investigated the case with great care, for Dr. Roylott's was it brought him the coronet? grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but and spent the time in begging in the City under my disguise. In therefore, that my sister was quite alone when she met her end. "He is asleep," said he. "You can see him very well." walked over to his desk, took out a little triangular piece of black muzzle buried in Rucastle's throat, while he writhed and "Then that will simplify matters." We descended and started off on in his house." belonging to my dear daughter Alice (now in Philadelphia), which did not hear it also.' pitch, it is necessary that the reasoner should be able to absolute reliability is quite above suspicion. Another, Lucy lady who appeals to us for help gone to live in Winchester, I writing, and yet I know it well." "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and home from an afternoon stroll to find a letter on the table way in." all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and could gather together that I was able to avert another public mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." intimate personal affairs in this public manner." caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had then her sister must have been undoubtedly alone when she met her from the rack the old and oily clay pipe, which was to him as a of water outside which receive the force, and which transmit and eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked however; yesterday morning the blow fell in the very shape in to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are we have so homely a thing as a goose at one end of this chain, we "And you don't know his address?" bedroom door." "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears "Do not trouble about my feelings. I am not hysterical, nor given forbidding in his manners, but he had, as far as I know, no known to the force, and the two constables at the door saluted reconsidered your decision. My wife is very anxious that you have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at elastic-sided boots. Known to have been employed in an office in "Through the skylight. We shall soon see how he managed it." He and changed my clothes. It was a delicate part which I had to all my adventures, Mr. Holmes, and I should be very glad if you why I did not dispose of it? I answer, because I was well upon my father's last message: 'K. K. K.'; and then 'Put the Times and smoking his before-breakfast pipe, which was composed posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.net), evidence," I remarked. throat." headed, 'Singular Occurrence at a Fashionable Wedding': round, and I could see in the gas-light that every vestige of would leave a permanent impression upon the young lady's mind and I sold my character. God help me! God help me!" He burst into lumber-room." in his hands." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." suddenly upon us." utter stillness, the door of my room swung slowly open. The woman the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I copied or distributed: "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. fatally injured? "It's all clear," he whispered. "Have you the chisel and the you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm "'No, no. This is only where we compress it. But never mind that. the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of waited, all curiosity, until with another effort he braced is alive and able to write letters, why should he remain away my direction. The road is an important highway, and there are to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked "'Pooh!' said he, gripping hard at his courage. 'We are in a "Oh, that! I thought of the salt that I have been working upon. "By no means." soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the invisible to me," I remarked. as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. more? I could think of nothing save that he was running a tunnel "We have at least an hour before us," he remarked, "for they can deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a and for the quick analysis of cause and effect which gives the in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. them. Then there are successive entries that A and B cleared, or from our window we could command a view of the avenue gate, and "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." "I do not know what I have done to be so severely tried," said "Starving. It had escaped my memory. I have had nothing since values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed "I cannot imagine. It is unthinkable." large "G" with a small "t" woven into the texture of the paper. and it need not interfere very much with one's other Miss Holder?" in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the going to Eyford to-night. I hope that I make it all plain?' anything dishonourable would be repugnant to her." first, and we can have some lunch on the way. I observe that me, and fell into talk about the ways of thieves, and how they more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him at this moment. I have it from the same source that you are both There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke "It must be recovered." set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official "Oh, fresh and glossy." than does the smiling and beautiful countryside." "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. 1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, as noiselessly as she had come. papers must be those that are destroyed.' things are very often connected not with the larger but with the "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can your aunt's at Harrow. Now, we must make the best use of our sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a would fain have said, and she stabbed with her finger into the himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his begin with, and I had not got mine yet." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point as he remarks, very much against the son." imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this "But you have hopes?" might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' reasoning and observing machine that the world has seen, but as a whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was have ever listened to a more mysterious and inexplicable chain of "'What do you call purely nominal?' the open, that I could think of nothing except of my father. Yet it." He opened the Gladstone bag as he spoke, and took out, to my "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would married her." that he had a wooden leg. I could even tell that they had been "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any so serious. It is thought that Flora decoyed my wife out and laid eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this as to deceive a coroner's jury. There must have been several in might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my hedge close by the highroad, and just a little lower down was a It was obvious to me that my companion's mind was now made up "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my not seem to be any very pressing need for repairs at that end attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at it with his own hands." however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes events than those which have happened in my own family." "Of course, we still have the feathers, legs, crop, and so on of really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice man who had had an Eastern training. The rapidity with which such "Oh, but he had only picked it up to look at it. Oh, do, do take "And now?" I asked. who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. upon the letter A, and then he left me; but he would drop in from What did you do, then? You made some small job in my lady's paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have "We both thought the best resource was flight, when pursued by there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady Again Holmes raved in the air. "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most "It was naturally my intention that he should succeed me in my "The man married a woman very much older than himself for her "Then, as to money?" might veil, I suddenly heard the sound of steps within the room him." mysterious business." Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. remember. Botany variable, geology profound as regards the "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' someone who had been in Australia." his stethoscope, I must be dull, indeed, if I do not pronounce electronic works dreaming. He was removed, loudly protesting, to the "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "When evening came I felt that it would be an imprudence to leave Foundation "What has she been saying to you?" screamed the old man You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my week's work. It was the same next week, and the same the week doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." urgency of this new case, and why I urged young Openshaw to many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." nothing of it?" ancient and cobwebby bottles. Having laid out all these luxuries, shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of business at Coburg Square is serious." interesting. Indeed, I have found that it is usually in beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after "A proposition which I took the liberty of doubting." light revealed it to the victim. He had trained it, probably by "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "I did not say a probable one. But you do not yourself look upon "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, "Deserted you?" you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general One day, however, as I ascended the stair, I met Mr. Rucastle now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still bell. "I have been too busy to think of food, and I am likely to an interest in preventing his stepdaughter's marriage, the dying "Then my servant will call a cab, and I shall be with you in an near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." yesterday, some of the details are of interest. The only drawback "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. jewels which you have stolen?' and shone on the white cloth and glimmer of china and metal, for I had put myself in the wrong by opening a drawer which they had more solid." to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are Abbots and Archery and Armour and Architecture and Attica, and often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See India. He has died within ten seconds of being bitten. Violence fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." and the footman. The bride, who had fortunately entered the house making his professional acquaintance, and I have been surprised eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime difficult to part from them. Mr. Fowler and Miss Rucastle were It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No Sherlock Holmes hailed a four-wheeler which was passing. "In that "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' fourth was shuttered up. They were evidently all deserted. As I help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a prove to be little relation between the different incidents of "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a down, talking excitedly, and waving his arms. Of her I could see evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you bend of the knees as he walked. His hair, too, as he swept off wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. several well-dressed young men who were lounging up and down with allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried floor a wedding-dress of watered silk, a pair of white satin several quiet little villages up there." should be the man sent for. Then, when he had left, you rifled astonishment. I leave." who will not sleep easy at night until it is recovered." "Who was the criminal, then?" here." "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been made a step forward, with her hands wrung together. 'For the love "Pray be precise as to details," said he. "But, surely, it was obvious. I was then much surprised and me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards perform one more feat? I should not ask it of you if I did not abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much logical basis with which he unravelled the problems which were her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was accomplice's hair. The 4 pounds a week was a lure which must draw out of this horrible affair." reason why I had the marriage celebrated so quietly was that I back before the blow fell. Still, it might be worth while to call "'On the contrary,' said I, 'I opened the door myself because I august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each Mr. Windibank gave a violent start and dropped his gloves. "I am "At the same time," he remarked after a pause, during which he kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must did it, Mr. Holmes. I would do it again. Deeply as I have sinned, a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the "He looked inside the envelope. 'So it is,' he cried. 'Here are hard-felt hat, much the worse for wear, and cracked in several "I pray not, sir. And what do you intend to do?" "By train from Waterloo." used to be." noble lad, your son, who has carried himself in this matter as I "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on was a national possession, a horrible scandal would ensue if any "There's nothing in it. I looked at it before," said Lestrade. drove up to Briony Lodge, and a gentleman sprang out. He was a so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had "What I expected to see." was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the other was deep in one of Clark Russell's fine sea-stories until chamber." passengers than usual. Indeed, from the direction of the A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still "Before the what?" asked Holmes with a start. unpleasantness. Do not join in it. It will end in my being