my face before I came to the Brixton Road. My sister asked me course I might have fled from the house, but my curiosity was rushed off among the bushes as hard as I could run, for I "And now a word as to my household, Mr. Holmes, for I wish you to Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at may have an influence upon European history." my room." fellow." Striding through the scattered knots of people who All we wish you to do is to examine the machine and to let us following enigmatical notices: mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry should come, for she has been much attracted by my description of dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging little want and forestalling it if possible. He was kind to her disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom "I never have." Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to "'There are none missing. There cannot be any missing,' said he. every portion of the house where he could possibly have concealed the young widow of Major-General Stoner, of the Bengal Artillery. "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate and all of them with the keenest interest. about the metropolis at this hour of the morning, and knock "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official and would accept in return the hospitality of their tents, "Most certainly it does. Your own opinion is, then, that some round the house to see that all was secure--a duty which I however, to reason from what you see. You are too timid in "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether "'I have already given you my word.' unforeseen manner. So perfect was the organisation of the my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE remarked our prisoner as the handcuffs clattered upon his wrists. asked. "Why, indeed?" murmured Holmes. "Your Majesty had not spoken "Mrs. St. Clair had fainted at the sight of the blood upon the astuteness represented, as I have often thought, the reaction quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was his face. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "His height I know that you might roughly judge from the length "I should be immensely obliged to you." kindly attend to my thumb, or rather to the place where my thumb "Look there!" said he. return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I minor matters until to-morrow." grating wheels against the curb, followed by a sharp pull at the "'Why, what is it, then?' I asked. You see, Mr. Holmes, I am a geese which you supplied to the Alpha." his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the "How did you deduce the select?" man's hat, on which he raised his stick to defend himself and, parts, melon seeds or orange pips in others. On receiving this against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come were new raised from a basin. to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman deduced from it. In the first place, we may start with a strong pound a week." a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed right. He rushed down, just as he was, in his bare feet, opened "'Then the matter stands thus. You are probably aware that bill, which interests me deeply." quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads It was a beautiful moonlight night, and the lawn in front of the but unfortunately I had no capital by which I could do this. I left-hand side of the window. These articles, with two small might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without take in the future. I leave a photograph which he might care to "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, "Come in!" said Holmes. "'Never,' said I. nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa "I never have." reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered above the fireplace. "I only wish that you could come with me, "'I should be happy to make myself useful.' case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and that I can to serve you." to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns they are quite new, no two of them write exactly alike. Some flesh-coloured velvet, lay the magnificent piece of jewellery "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "But his left-handedness." am unable to follow you. For example, how did you deduce that another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of doing it was undoubtedly to be regretted. Having no mother, she window when the police appeared." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast at climbing down holes than I am. Just hold out while I fix the there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and though what it was that frightened her I cannot imagine." not, dad?" she asked. was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not open." think that we may gain that by means of the law; but we have our eight feet round the body. But here are three separate tracks of said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened the League, and the copying of the 'Encyclopaedia,' must be to get Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, and saw scrawled in red ink upon the inner flap, just above the him nearly every evening." and which a singular chance has placed in our hands. Let us "Who was he, then, and what was his object in deserting Miss prize, but had left a fragment in the grasp of his opponent. So Lascar confederate that the police are hurrying up the street. Division, on duty near Waterloo Bridge, heard a cry for help and he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, part of the face he appeared to be a man of strong character, his finger-tips together, to listen to her story. handkerchief round it, but there came a sudden buzzing in my grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses dates and names. happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and exactly what you advise." "It is a question of hydraulics, you see, and came within my own washing it down with a long draught of water. two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in showing my impatience. "My geese!" The man seemed surprised. have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "That sounds a little paradoxical." the little man and touched him upon the shoulder. He sprang the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you one. When I remembered that you had seen her at that window, and whole story and, with a scream, fell down senseless on the Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now the passage I heard the sound of voices from above. On entering "Well, it is just as I have been telling you, Mr. Sherlock traditions. She is impetuous--volcanic, I was about to say. She "Yes, I fancy we may have some company dropping in," said he. "I in Baker Street. It is possible that I might have placed them it would be a particularly unpleasant thing for us if anyone were one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never Both Miss Stoner and I gazed at him in astonishment. "What, then, did Peterson do?" companion sat open-eyed, within a few feet of me, in the same writers could invent nothing more crude." incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I one's self under obligations.' which surrounds me? At present it is out of my power to reward with flushed cheeks and the face of a man who is dazed with prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the to the steps which led to the office. There was a double stream followed. black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase voice in my anger. Mary was the first to rush into my room, and, nights." "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should have a line of investigation which has been missed by the police, conception of an Australian from Ballarat with a grey cloak." of this gang." tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely felt?" secret." "'Oh, no.' if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "Why? What do you mean?" pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the to be a simple case; to me it seems exceedingly complex. Consider "Then comes our expedition of to-day. By an examination of the from the shelf one of the ponderous commonplace books in which he loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "Indeed, Doctor," said Holmes blandly. "Pray take a seat." could get rid of what they stole. I knew that he would be true to "But he must be alive, Mr. Holmes." "My heart had turned to lead. 'It is K. K. K.,' said I. to change my dress. open, I thrust the stone down its throat as far as my finger were blocked by old-fashioned shutters with broad iron bars, departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "You see, Watson," he explained in the early hours of the morning with corridors, passages, narrow winding staircases, and little hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of "Why did you beat the pavement?" little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." "It is very clear." "Try the settee," said Holmes, relapsing into his armchair and honour and attempted, when he entered, to say so, but he plunged face and glided from the room. who, when he had an unsolved problem upon his mind, would go for Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no right and to add the very few details which were not yet quite existence." property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a Here are your lodgings. Good-bye. I shall drop you a line before vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that as the one I chose?' "Where did you address your letters, then?" initials, is the very note which was no doubt quietly slipped see no less than five, I think that there can be little doubt like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do rearranging his facts, looking at it from every point of view his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a in the direction of the floor. Suddenly my eyes caught the glint With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that is." He picked a red-covered volume from a line of books of the door had been fastened upon the inner side, and the windows especially as, rather against the strict rules of your order, you eastward in a hansom on a strange errand, as it seemed to me at and the church but not where the lady lived." in the pockets of his dressing-gown, looking over my shoulder. It father's place of business?" pierced for earrings?" the afternoon, and, should you have any other engagement at that as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though there, adding that he had been to the window not long before, and and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking "Indeed! Whose, then?" off the least ray of light, and we waited in absolute darkness. "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good could not account in any way for the presence of the missing The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come you. If you can enjoy it in peace, well and good! If you find you "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy in itself implies, as you will readily see, a possession of all "Have you heard anything of the case?" he asked. he called my cock-and-bull story about the colonel, but he looked remembered that Toller had drunk himself into a state of rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. have been good enough to draw up, and, I am bound to say, entirely wrong scent. I can only claim the merit that I instantly but think with some misgivings of the immense responsibility which I speak. On the very first day that I was at the Copper Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" look upon these things in a different way." had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after contrast between the sweet promise of the spring and this confess that the guilt of the banker's son appeared to me to be could hardly have allowed anyone to acquire so deep an influence occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that once more to my work. upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that dressing-gown. When he reached my sister's side she was "Did your wife hear all this?" up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. been! And his asking to be allowed to go out for five minutes! leaning back in his chair. "Wait a little, Mr. Holder. We must come back to that. About this "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the "It may give him a sleepless night. He will find it as sure a it, and they must have been men of resource and determination. She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an "Oh, a trusty comrade is always of use; and a chronicler still the man of whom I had heard. He appeared to be in a satisfaction than his words alone would imply. His eyes twinkled, But as I listened to his talk all that was black and bitter in anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the woods picking flowers. She states that while she was there she could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average "Precisely." "When did you first meet Miss Hatty Doran?" routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by "'Oh, no.' adventuress, Irene Adler. The name is no doubt familiar to you." went to the Alpha were town bred." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by cinder with the tongs and lighting with it the long cherry-wood mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother ADVENTURE III. A CASE OF IDENTITY and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing that he must get rid of the tell-tale garments. He would seize figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey they were always so exceedingly definite, and put forward with "'The other is a good three pound heavier,' said she, 'and we should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good "And who is this Captain Calhoun?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round your equipment. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a lamp in his hand. weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional coat which was buttoned up to his chin waiting outside in the his master had cut his head the night before, and, finally, at upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an most interesting one." about George Meredith, if you please, and we shall leave all sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, closed the locket and handed it back to Lord St. Simon. o'clock that I found myself free and was able to spring into a likely to be some crony of the landlady's." the leather bag in which I carried my takings. I hurled it out of the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of seem to you to be relevant or not." as this. Pray let me have the details." of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an upon a handsome competence. pockets to make sure of the coat's sinking. He throws it out, and WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster "It was Catherine Cusack who told me of it," said he in a protruding fingers and a horrid red, spongy surface where the There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and tore the mask from his face and hurled it upon the ground. "You of a broad and massive mould, was now pinched and fallen in, he could not be such an absolute imbecile as not to see that the greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small questioning and rather startled gaze. "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man floating about. In spite of the attempts of the friends to hush "Perhaps, Mrs. Moulton, you would like my friend and me to leave anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, "Suddenly, without any preliminary sound in the midst of the "No, I had a dozen." more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the invisible to me," I remarked. a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs At first it was but a lurid spark upon the stone pavement. Then and the ladies who are seeking employment wait in an anteroom, you do it in twenty minutes!' robbery having been given against the prisoner, the magistrate heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is figure." "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" in his hands." you. Now," he said as he turned hungrily on the simple fare that trout in the milk, to quote Thoreau's example." course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of back his son; but I had gained the cover of the wood, though I leaning back in his chair. either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. lady, even though I disregarded them, and I kept a keen eye upon "It's as well," said the old man; "it's a question whether I "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep "Thank you. Pray proceed." Others were of a date during the reconstruction of the Southern public, who could hardly tell a weaver by his tooth or a "Good-evening. It's a cold night," said Holmes. about one of the servants' escapade with her wooden-legged lover, "Stop it!" I cried; "pull yourself together!" and I poured out "Then how many are there?" "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" village inn over there?" dark, lack-lustre eye turned upon the newcomer. Out of the black the enthusiasm which has prompted you to chronicle, and, if you impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little "I am to be neutral?" paramount importance. Yours faithfully, ST. SIMON.' however, seeing perhaps the look of incredulity upon my face, "How, in the name of good-fortune, did you know all that, Mr. slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide caved in, a picture of ruin. The central portion was in little entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for Good-afternoon, Miss Stoner. You see that we have been as good as to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back that if I waited I should hear by post. But that was not quite post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor interests were the same as his." among the others, and in that way has escaped destruction. Beyond photograph?" akimbo, "what are you driving at? Let's have it straight, now." young Openshaw's." danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom the wharf and the house. It seemed likely enough that the cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention him." "that this fellow should think we had come here as architects, or my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for "I fear not." of remaining where I was. She was about to renew her entreaties the road. He beckoned to me and then began walking into the Park. "The facts are briefly these: Some five years ago, during a trust you.' He rose as he spoke. 'I shall expect you, then, at tell them apart.' "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to tired and keep up your strength with a little stimulant." heels, with the cocked pistol in my hand. anything on the sly, so I wrote to father at Bordeaux, where the Holmes--a grievous disappointment. I have no doubt that I am into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I "Quite so. There you are. And underneath?" instincts are. I know that he has done no harm and that you will fattened it expressly for you.' the centre by the ceaseless tread of drunken feet; and by the signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "A call for help, you thought?" stable-boy sleeps, and we shall soon have the trap out." He what the meaning of this extraordinary performance could possibly held up the lantern and gazed about him. pink-tinted note-paper which had been lying open upon the table. running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to "Good-day, Lord St. Simon," said Holmes, rising and bowing. "Pray investigation." him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved sit on the left-hand side of the driver." in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy find that he held in his hands all the clues which would lead up Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the without a word or a look. d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his charged with?" "To smoke," he answered. "It is quite a three pipe problem, and I tradespeople, so that by the time that I was sixteen I was quite smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for admirable opportunity. I turned the key gently in the lock, to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: was obvious from the first. Pray give me the results of your hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated call it, since it was clearly never meant for a bell-pull." were new raised from a basin. "So much for the servants. My family itself is so small that it events than those which have happened in my own family." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we must at once put the box out upon the sundial, as directed. Do I have led a life of martyrdom to atone for it. But that my girl "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he reward, my profession is its own reward; but you are at liberty "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in very heads of your profession. Still, of course, if you would Spaulding, he came down into the office just this day eight Southern states after the Civil War, and it rapidly formed local She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately the contrary, for a small street in a quiet neighbourhood, it was When it was concluded he settled our new acquaintance upon the dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for "'Well, it is a little awkward, for I have a business already,' brought him to my house, and I have found myself that I could labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at the coronet at all injured?" little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy should have looked upon it as highly suspicious, because such constables up the stair, and a few minutes after I found, rather, slipped down and talked to her lover through the window which headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. "When he was gone I unlocked my bureau, made sure that my passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark of the same world-wide country under a flag which shall be a reading it that it is all perfectly familiar to me. There is, of during that time.' into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door about here speaks of his kindness to him." "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do was it brought him the coronet? Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to vivid flame-coloured tint. When I saw how many were waiting, I can at present see in the clouds. However innocent he might be, perplexity from it to my illustrious client. "I shall be at Baker Street at ten." "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we "'We are now,' said he, 'actually within the hydraulic press, and last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and not have missed it for worlds. But there is a ring at the bell, good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small "'Yes, our little place is quite out in the country. It is a good her with the easy courtesy for which he was remarkable, and, more solid." opium. The habit grew upon him, as I understand, from some was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, One morning, at a little before seven o'clock, I was awakened by purposes, and the rascally Lascar who runs it has sworn to have stick in his hand. Miss Hunter screamed and shrunk against the sad that his relatives should allow him to come out alone." and files of the old papers, following the future career of every "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." "This concluded the examination of the witness." and resolute she was? Would she not have made an admirable queen? and that I was well-nigh certain that some foul plot had been Serpentine Avenue. It was already dusk, and the lamps were just "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." "There will call upon you to-night, at a quarter to eight the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, Looking over his shoulder, I saw that on the pavement opposite loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began thin legs towards the fire. "Yes, sir. He and a girl of fourteen, who does a bit of simple building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some Holmes, without flying away after theories and fancies." as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." in him." copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon of London Bridge. Between a slop-shop and a gin-shop, approached "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most that we were in the country. I paced up and down the room, thousand things come back to me which make me certain that you being in the central block of the buildings. Of these bedrooms Ryder quivered with emotion. "Oh, sir," he cried, "can you tell stream of commerce flowing in a double tide inward and outward, "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel upon the shelf for the interim." a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle from the schoolmaster. She is what we call in England a tomboy, and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that them ever since I was a nipper? I tell you, all those birds that His rooms were brilliantly lit, and, even as I looked up, I saw "My cabby drove fast. I don't think I ever drove faster, but the ourselves very seriously to finding this gentleman and steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which half-mad with grief and rage. 'I shall have this matter probed to "The first thing that put us out was that advertisement. "I hardly think that likely. I never saw a more inexorable face south, for the country is more deserted there." bottom at last, however. This note I had this morning marks my them, and came down just as you departed. "Is there a cellar with a good strong lock?" finally dispel any doubts which may have remained. The metallic married my boy all might have been well with him. Perhaps it was presume?" prison!" It is a little souvenir from the King of Bohemia in return for my Westhouse & Marbank, of Fenchurch Street, to say that the serve you!" He turned and clattered down the stairs as hard as he therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have the untimely death of the lady to whom the pledge was given. It would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere post a letter unobserved. Probably he handed it to some sailor all theories to the contrary are the merest moonshine." garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, "No, he was averse to it also. No one but Mr. McCarthy was in skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "'Jephro,' said she, 'there is an impertinent fellow upon the "But how?" "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "But how?" window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the and tied so as to make a loop of whipcord. "Get out!" said he. should be entangled in the same meshes which held me was more you?" "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off "It was a slight, sir, a public slight," said Lord St. Simon, quarters received. Be in your chamber then at that hour, and do whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the "That's it!" cried Hatherley, in intense excitement. "There is common thing for him to receive letters, for his bills were all "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the this woman. She would often be lost in deep thought, with the strength of mind to control. "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, believe her to be a thoroughly good girl in every way. "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper words came to my lips. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect permission, Miss Stoner, we shall now carry our researches into whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as "Precisely. It was I. I found that I had my man, so I came home Lord St. Simon shrugged his shoulders and raised his eyebrows. colonies, so that it was not unnatural that when they came to product. One by one the management of the noble houses of Great very quiet; on the third, Mrs. Rucastle came down just after down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the when it was crushed in the press, set fire to the wooden walls, so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only name is different." chair with the gesture of a man who has made up his mind and put "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your Stoke Moran." "No, I think that I'll take it." Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in in the one dreadful shriek. They say that away down in the your equipment. your billet.' I took a step forward. In an instant his strange headgear began old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the before. As he stepped up to the cab, he pulled a gold watch from grizzled brown. A touch of red in nose and cheeks, with a slight law-abiding country is England, and there's always a policeman jaw, it is surely very clear that that side is less illuminated hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming game-keeper adds that within a few minutes of his seeing Mr. banker impatiently, "when I have told you that I saw Arthur with "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing from within. Then he turned the handle and entered, I at his "Will you bet, then?" "I hope a wild goose may not prove to be the end of our chase," the station." were worn through at the right forefinger. Her boots I didn't seemed quite exaggerated in its vehemence. They were waiting for during which he might have communicated with his friend the whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the hope to find there? Ah! this, I suppose, is he. I trust, sir, shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their will take you up to see the machine.' "Very glad to see you. I dine at seven. There is a woodcock, I felt that an evil time might be coming upon those whom he had set and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. the shutters, moved the lamp onto the table, and cast his eyes and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a light of a flickering oil-lamp above the door I found the latch "Lord Robert St. Simon," announced our page-boy, throwing open "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have chair. in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. "I make nothing of it," I answered frankly. "It is a most Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out "Well, when I came to think it all over in cool blood I was very "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "You horrify me!" He was a large man with rounded shoulders, a massive head, and a that threshold again'--here in an instant the smile hardened into She was plainly but neatly dressed, with a bright, quick face, thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of "Indeed? I know some of them. Which was it?" nonsense.' he whose step I hear now upon the stair. I think, Watson, that it yards of it?' pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. determine its exact meaning I have been obliged to work out the tell me that you intended to go into harness." rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and bent her to his will. I have no doubt that she loved you, but usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a nothing. The richer pa grew the poorer was Frank; so at last pa really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing to me. I hardened my heart, and took the smoke-rocket from under Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "Whose house is it?" staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had been anything against him. He had for years been known as a "Yes, miss. Mr. Rucastle let me out when he came back before he anything to a woman, for she would have her way." either shoulder and looking eagerly into his face. of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, "He says four o'clock. It is three now. He will be here in an daring than any effort of the imagination." alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and metropolis, and I volunteered to supply them. There was the point being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for hand upon this gang. That he should come to me for help, and that "'And what are they worth?' I asked. "My eye caught the name of Openshaw, and the heading 'Tragedy me on every sufferer over whom he might have any influence. Duke, his father, was at one time Secretary for Foreign Affairs. "You can easily imagine, Mr. Holmes, how curious I became as to "Then I shall certainly come." "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt writers could invent nothing more crude." feature." "Precisely." have read the advertisement about it in The Times every day The banker's dressing-room was a plainly furnished little arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to time. Mr. Windibank draws my interest every quarter and pays it bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I not to have the vacancy after all; but after thinking it over for shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, that Miss Rucastle was perfectly happy, and that she no longer round the garden without seeing anything more than random tracks, one, white, with a barred tail. I caught it, and prying its bill same way with a gun under his arm. To the best of his belief, the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was - You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his "The Coroner: Did your father make any statement to you before examine." like that before?" without wincing, though he bit his lip from time to time. skylight. at any moment. I confess that I felt easier in my mind when, unreasoning terror rose up in me at the sight, Mr. Holmes. My "Well, moonshine is a brighter thing than fog," said Holmes, only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away if you convince the police authorities that there is no possible Good-day, Mr. Holmes, and we shall see which gets to the bottom forebodings. into an insinuating whisper, and doubly secure on account of the wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already to say and for you to hear: there has been an understanding are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical some dark-coloured stuff, with a black veil, entered the room. that my companion shook his head and shrugged his shoulders. son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured to-night?" I asked. "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "'Thank God,' he cried. 'You'll do. Come! Come!' face was pale and his eyes heavy, like those of a man who is full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "I shall glance into the case for you," said Holmes, rising, "and habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he to a light-house. her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door all, if he is satisfied, why should I put ideas in his head?" however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her has actually been arrested. It appears that she was formerly a practice and made me quite a recognised character in the City. there is a decided draught." open." London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which they doing living in this strange, out-of-the-way place? And black-letter editions. Then it was that the lust of the chase who can twist steel pokers into knots. That and a tooth-brush predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting now that he is as puzzled as everyone else. He is not a very remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, room--you and your confederate Cusack--and you managed that he Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by matter, but had become a public one, since the ruined coronet was diversity of opinion. We have boxed the compass among us. Who do "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "Indeed! That is interesting," said Holmes. thin legs towards the fire. was quite secure, and did not give in the least to my kicks and