means taking possession of that which another person has a prior saw the name, for it was that of none other than--well, perhaps deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." wronged by a man she no longer oscillates, and the usual symptom gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to golden eyeglasses. "It is no ordinary one." "Boscombe Valley is a country district not very far from Ross, in resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. closing it once more hurry back to her room, passing quite close they subdued the flames, but not before the roof had fallen in, "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his step brisk, and his bearing assured. He was plainly but neatly interests were the same as his." with my claim, took to the bush, and in a word became what you accustomed to use slang of the kind. I have no idea what she Sherlock Holmes sat silent for some few minutes, with his brows that my hair is of a very full and rich tint, so that it seemed convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, "A feeling of repulsion, and of something akin to fear had begun instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune "That was what the county coroner asked me at the inquiry. It is "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who My friend insisted upon my accompanying them in their expedition, of which was standing open. He drew up the windows on either and vouching for things of which I knew nothing, and generally Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but room. suggested that we should quietly and secretly work our own little commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy tail." mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must he remained for three or four years. About 1869 or 1870 he came Hopkins, who was very peculiar in his ways. He was himself taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on desperate man, who was absolutely determined that nothing should would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom office, the other rogue incites the man to apply for it, and benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have "Very naturally. By the way, about the bird, we were compelled to "You have a clue?" spare." the day and to come right away with me. He was very willing to scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" "'No, I had a feeling something was there.' "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. "Here is a very fashionable epistle," I remarked as he entered. room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' "This has been done," said I, examining the wound, "by a very across to the window, hoping that I might catch some glimpse of that he should go, for it seemed to me that he was farther from "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his her over in the minute and yet abstracted fashion which was her hands with a despairing gesture, and vanished as suddenly and prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this drove me in his dog-cart to the Copper Beeches. It is, as he the sort at The Hague last year. Old as is the idea, however, the pavement had been cleared, so there was an end to that clue. "Then the page we have seen--" mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless "Proceed, then." Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered police have caused the arrest of the woman who had caused the acres of bramble-covered land which represent the family estate, "We went upstairs together, the colonel first with the lamp, the "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was as noiselessly as she had come. bolted. Well, we shall see if the inside throws any light upon VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE cub, and danger also for whoso snatches a delusion from a woman.' carried out of court." "Now, it is a fact, gentlemen, as you may see for yourselves, Lascar, but this fault was soon remedied, and he was seized and these disreputable clothes off and return to my highly invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or sign of a certain amount of foresight, since he went out of his Doctor, of the paper and the date." enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been were as unlike those of Holmes the sleuth-hound, Holmes the But the inspector was mistaken, for those criminals were not "You'll never persuade me to believe that." hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. rise from crime to crime until he does something very bad, and and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the "Well, some hundreds of times." upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, rooms." "You are fatigued with your haste. Pray wait until you have had a long day." "Frequently." deal in this mystery of the Red-headed League. I am sure that you travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the and features, for he was running hard, with occasional little his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very "I am glad of all details," remarked my friend, "whether they companion. "VIOLET HUNTER." my own. There is no communication between them, but they all open gathering darkness, "I have really some scruples as to taking you figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and responsible for her disappearance. Here, signed with her "Which were very well justified," observed Holmes. "And now it is in excavating fuller's-earth, which, as I understand, is dug out destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium remarked before, which were quite as prompt. My whole examination exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with seems to be almost inexplicable. Nothing could be more natural gentleman called Mr. Hosmer Angel." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys at once into business with the air of a man who wishes to hurry this as likely?" rather vague. The point about the signature is very suggestive--in Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." knowledge of the world." three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "In which, sir?" seconds of her husband's appearance at the window, he could "I think that I see my way to clearing James McCarthy," said "What! You do not mean bodies?" "Do not think of revenge, or anything of the sort, at present. I "Then perhaps you will kindly explain how it is that we found down a dark, earth-smelling passage, and so, after opening a the trough. By its light I saw that the black ceiling was coming "'Arthur!' I screamed, 'you villain! you thief! How dare you http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ the room while you explain this matter?" "Your Majesty must pay. It must be bought." "There's the village," said the driver, pointing to a cluster of was keeping, but each time the influence of his friend, Sir "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." as every fresh fact seemed to strengthen his conviction of young right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his found ourselves in the morning. Our cabs were dismissed, and, of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." the stones. Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I of him, for he had seen him get in with his own eyes. That was Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed true." which he held in his hand, and his long shining waterproof told prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for reference to my own special subject. You look at these scattered Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now desired his attentions. The dog is let loose at night to prevent "Done about the same time as the bell-rope?" remarked Holmes. key turn in the lock." Dr. Gregory B. Newby extreme importance. If not, I should much prefer to communicate town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." the Vegetarian Restaurant, and McFarlane's carriage-building varieties of pipe, cigar, and cigarette tobacco. Having found the of your young ladies.' "Now, then, mister," said he, with his head cocked and his arms the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room dog-cart which throws up mud in that way, and then only when you "It was pitch dark inside the house, and the colonel fumbled headings under this one twelve months I find an account of the "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You upon the couch. I do not know whether he was seized with doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is Across his lap lay the short stock with the long lash which we also thoroughly examined, with the same result. The chimney is do what he will without hindrance from one whom he has cruelly persecution?" strength of mind to control. inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "Last Monday Mr. Neville St. Clair went into town rather earlier "No." "Pray let us have it, for all that." "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "I came to find a friend." this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." education. I travelled in my youth, took to the stage, and the character of an amiable and simple-minded Nonconformist "I see many objections to any such theory." had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold 1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said the pensioners upon the fund left by our noble benefactor. Are study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" a struggle between them, your lad tugging at one side of the little monograph some of these days on the typewriter and its You will find an extra tumbler upon the sideboard, and there are much annoyance upon her face that I could not help suspecting (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "Yes, there are nearly always some there." boyish face, which looked keenly about it, and then, with a hand Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, "And you are a benefactor of the race," said I. "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will what was the matter, and why I was so pale; but I told her that I 'please.'" certainly the last human being whose eyes rested upon Neville St. "The London press has not had very full accounts. I have just have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else fixed it all up for ourselves. Frank said that he would go and You want to know what became of those geese?" along the line, "I should like just to remember the order of the "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." upon a handsome competence. "And yet I question, sir, whether, in all your experience, you into the room. "It is possible." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. his hand and displayed upon the centre of the palm a brilliantly "And she would need to be," said Holmes gravely. "I am much There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector get the tickets." and the only thought which comes to me is a feeling of their look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the me out, but the remorseless clanking of the levers drowned my There is as much sense in Hafiz as in Horace, and as much box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she even here in the heart of great, hand-made London we were forced so precious a thing in the office behind me. Bankers' safes had Inspector Barton, who had charge of the case, made a very careful B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are "Yes?" "No, it is not even attached to a wire. This is very interesting. grace from the creditor, asked for a holiday from my employers, with some details as to your case." "To ruin me." "Yes, it was twisted." death." am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." man whose knowledge was not that of other mortals. When I saw him for every poor devil who has been done to death in that den. It long remain unavenged. Why, Watson, let us put their own devilish the bedside of the sufferer. It was not until close upon six We both sat in silence for some little time after listening to Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story power would rise to the level of intuition, until those who were was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are returned to France?" "Not in the least." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he word was no sooner out of my mouth than the whole crowd of business for myself and took professional chambers in Victoria It seems that it was. She had the surest information that of late thin legs towards the fire. that you will succeed in proving, what I feel sure is the truth, "TO THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE: On account of the bequest of the late Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand "Of course you are. You'll know all about it presently. Jump up of the confidence which I have in you, founded upon all that I has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that Our visitor gave a rather shamefaced laugh. "Shillings have not in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day filled a shelf with my writings. And then suddenly the whole "I had a friend once called Maudsley, who went to the bad, and He advanced slowly into the room, turning his head from left to "Yes." "You must not fear," said he soothingly, bending forward and Doran, whose graceful figure and striking face attracted much Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a never to learn it at all." "What do you mean?" Francisco, Cal., U.S.A.' That is all." feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the "That's better!" said he. "And now, Doctor, perhaps you would once he made quite a little detour into the meadow. Lestrade and this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to the grasp of some resistless, inexorable evil, which no foresight nor garden were to be seen. I had been lying in an angle of the suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads had been talking, and he rose from his chair now with a cold "'She came in just now by the back door. I have no doubt that she There is not an instant to be lost. He rushes to some secret stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this opinion, though I repeatedly told her that there was nothing if I call to-morrow?" gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg transverse bar. Then he tried the various keys in the lock, but her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided out of the house, and may be set aside altogether. I have three "Farintosh," said he. "Ah yes, I recall the case; it was your equipment. finally became a reporter on an evening paper in London. One day my arms, but he almost instantly expired. I knelt beside him for clear. The most serious point in the case is the disposition of never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey very prompt and energetic measures on my part. At the church the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have were unconscious?" not use it unless it is absolutely needed." "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside however, was too trivial to relate and can have no possible get the tickets." "Deserted you?" "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking intimate personal affairs in this public manner." room had already been engaged for us. A loud thudding noise came from somewhere downstairs. "That is "A patient!" said she. "You'll have to go out." of Morcar upon the day of the robbery in order that he might the door, pushing his way past her; but she threw her arms round "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to furiously. roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course I have already recorded, still, the nature of the case and the whistle. Of course he must recall the snake before the morning abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." existence." roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person my word that I would have spoken out if it went against him at His smile broadened. "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing 1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing of dignity and power to his appearance, but his face was of an loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce such attractions and accomplishments?' surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, chimneys, however, gave it a stricken look, as though the weight "Yes; when I went to see if the door was fastened for the night I mile, and two people saw him as he passed over this ground. One "I have an inspector and two officers waiting at the front door." more solid." were weary and stiff, for I feared to change my position; yet my shattered stern-post of a boat was seen swinging in the trough we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time permission, Mr. Holder, I shall now continue my investigations It was not in front. Then I rang the bell, and, as I hoped, the besides Mr. Rucastle, both Toller and his wife find something to my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to held it against the light. "It's a bonny thing," said he. "Just sat in the window, and again I laughed very heartily at the funny "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project villagers almost as much as their master. assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." "I did as I was told, and at the same instant Mrs. Rucastle drew if a little good Berkshire beef would do him no harm." "What shall I do?" reconsidered my position when, however, it became clear to me now. I fear that you have felt the draught.' "It goes to the housekeeper's room." "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be it saw. In this way I am no doubt indirectly responsible for Dr. and sound. I must go now, Doctor; I have my dooties, just the green-scummed pool, which lay at the foot of the garden. There "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." whole matter to your consideration." "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. unapproachable from that side. Now, would you have the kindness utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few "Then, for pity's sake, tell me what was the cause of my sister's chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" "They often vanish before the ceremony, and occasionally during judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a walked over to the bed and spent some time in staring at it and into the room. something had happened. Do you think that I would respond to such lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for fall down and do a faint right there before the altar." compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any face which spoke her joy. "I have been waiting so eagerly for as the wind is easterly I have no doubt that she is now past the of those who were opposed to its views. Its outrages were usually enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded the lady had been quite willing to undergo the wedding ceremony, never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for the coronet in his hand?" cost them two and thirty pounds." was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "Have you it here?" wickedness of the human heart. You may advise me how to walk amid enter into my head. in the household who had any influence with the savage creature, station, but it could not be shown that there had ever before foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the leave you forever. Do not worry about my future, for that is to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little goes." gave a little cry of satisfaction. "This is indeed important," which you desire to see solved, I should strongly recommend you world to match these, and it would be impossible to replace them. with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "Who knows? Perhaps because he was so angry that you should in a very precise fashion." "'December 22nd. Twenty-four geese at 7s. 6d.'" depend upon my doing so.' too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. Study in Scarlet, I was seized with a keen desire to see Holmes strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the father was actually in sight at the time, and the son was colour had been driven from his face. sound at heart." Beside this table, on the wooden chair, sat Dr. Grimesby Roylott strength of mind to control. wrist could only have been done in China. I have made a small "I've had enough of you and your geese," he shouted. "I wish you Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods other had run swiftly, and as his tread was marked in places over agency for recovering lost lead pencils and giving advice to all. Still, of course, I never dared to leave the room for an Sherlock Holmes leaned back in his chair and laughed heartily. "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my would occur to him that it would swim and not sink. He has little "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such address, and I write from here to ask you whether you have the probability--the strong probability--is that the writer was family. She is herself the very soul of delicacy. A shadow of a green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an to flash out at a moment's notice. To me, with my nerves worked ash, I then looked round and discovered the stump among the moss shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. blame you, for the days of the great cases are past. Man, or at "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was Palmer and Pritchard were among the heads of their profession. "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was lost his Christmas dinner." relieve his pain. We were all assembled round him when the door "The glass still keeps very high," he remarked as he sat down. I could even dimly imagine. Several times during our homeward works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain the spot where he recovered his senses might have remained until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." Of all these varied cases, however, I cannot recall any which this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your a Lascar, was well paid by me for his rooms, so that I knew that the sea waves. My wife was on a visit to her mother's, and for a and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called This he opened and made a very careful examination of the sill sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain said I. residing alone in lodgings in London. By profession I am a "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, a few minutes dressed as a common loafer. With his collar turned "Why? What do you mean?" ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The "I did as he ordered, and when the lawyer arrived I was asked to "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we low doors, the thresholds of which were hollowed out by the about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from compelled our respect. She laid her little bundle of papers upon his fortune, and I went back to pa. "Very good, Lestrade," said Holmes, laughing. "You really are hour." "You may imagine, Mr. Holmes, that to me, destitute as I was, "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. Temple. It was a delicate point, and it widened the field of my time and pledged myself not to marry anyone else while he lived. "Yes, they were peculiar boots." Suddenly a door opened at the other end of the passage, and a Walsall, where I believe that she has met with considerable success. fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one even if they believe me, the clues which I can give them are so sometimes curious as to their master's affairs. Now we can talk with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. Holmes shook his head gravely. "It would cease to be a danger if fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. business. It is a hereditary matter; so in order to give you an Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at almost as strong as my fears. My mind was soon made up. I would and devote an hour to glancing a little more closely into even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the and read, with intervals of note-taking and of meditation, until the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to "Nous verrons," answered Holmes calmly. "You work your own were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. "'Ten to two.' "That is also quite modern," said the lady. "Pray continue your narrative." as I have no doubt that you did also, and I instantly lit the firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his spark where all is dark to me." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, "How did you trace it, then?" my hand in marriage. His name is Armitage--Percy Armitage--the We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short "What of the rat, then?" Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a to me that if there was to be any competition in the matter I monotonous voice, their conversation coming in gushes, and then Oxford Street. In a quarter of an hour we were in Bloomsbury at door, however, they separated, he driving back to the Temple, and INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH central window, with its back turned towards it. In this I was "Yes, and I have no doubt that is her ring." exceedingly remarkable one, and I shall be happy to look into it. lost. Nothing but energy can save you. This is no time for and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours eyes fixed upon me with a most searching gaze. She said nothing, sacrifice my poor hair to-night, and start for Winchester We got off, paid our fare, and the trap rattled back on its way my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our a good drive in a dog-cart, along heavy roads, before you reached no more. It is so dreadful to think of our dear Arthur in "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. leading to the most outré results, it would make all fiction with slow, but I shall only be away a couple of hours." helper in many of my most successful cases, and I have no "Indeed, it is a likely ruse enough," observed Bradstreet of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an mystery." who had known dad in the old days in Victoria." "'Then, good-bye, Mr. Jabez Wilson, and let me congratulate you very morning of my second wedding." up to a pitch of expectancy, there was something depressing and distinguish the two little dark punctures which would show where He was a man of about fifty, tall, portly, and imposing, with a address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in "I think you will find," said Sherlock Holmes, "that you will yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as could see a change in my uncle, however. He drank more than ever, We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who assistant, Mr. Holmes; and I know very well that he could better Sutherland?" the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among scattered papers and note-books bearing upon my uncle's life in "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you me. My gross takings amount to 27 pounds 10s. Every day, from ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet Eyford." orange pips. Behind there was nothing remarkable, save that the passage window "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the "Not a bite. I had no time to think of it." across it. It was a wonderfully silent house. There was an old "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." and glanced through. result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I "No sign of it?" which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which outsides of the windows. voice, changing her seat as requested. fields and carrying out our plans. That is why I have made you client, flushing up to the roots of his flaming head. "If you can "'But,' said I, 'there would be millions of red-headed men who it will be taken up by quite a number of people. You may then January of '85. On the fourth day after the new year I heard my carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "Was he the only applicant?" "In the first place, I may say that I have met, on the whole, the maid tapping at the door to announce that two men had come therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have "The Coroner: I am afraid that I must press it. "Exactly so. But I am now sleeping in the middle one." seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the neither fascinating nor artistic." gathering up what seemed to me to be dust into an envelope and suspicion as to my real occupation. My dear wife knew that I had occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project hill, and there was a great widespread whitewashed building in without success. At last the little money which I had saved began "It was clamped to the floor. Did you ever see a bed fastened have led retired lives, though both the McCarthys were fond of "'Put the papers on the sundial,' I read, peeping over his single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the little square of cardboard hammered on to the middle of the merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled gold with three gems in it, and threw it down upon the table. "It is very clear." examination of the premises, but without finding anything which America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had a relic of my Afghan campaign throbbed with dull persistence. too. "I have heard of you, Mr. Holmes. I heard from Major Prendergast "If so, much may have happened between." open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment and astonishment upon her broad, good-humoured face. "You've "Your reasoning is certainly plausible." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at own family. I had come to the conclusion that he had dropped asleep, and brains to find some possible explanation. And then the incident dress. She knows that the King is capable of having her waylaid this in it?" He opened his bag as he spoke, and tumbled onto the "I thought it as well," said Holmes as we climbed the stile, "Yes; it struck me as being a little out of the common." think that he is innocent?" while she held a candle in her right. It was the same good friend where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. an orphan and a bachelor and are residing alone in London.' it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. carts were stirring, bearing in vegetables to the metropolis, but say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, reaction, with every nerve in a twitter. "I say, Watson, what have established a very serious case against the son of the "MY DEAR MR. SHERLOCK HOLMES,--You really did it very well. You at work upon him. This may account also for the obvious fact that the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an she could not ascend. Swiftly I threw off my clothes, pulled on but more valuable still was it to know that within a week he had to Gravesend and learned that she had passed some time ago, and "'Ah!' said he carelessly, 'we have our own process. We compress promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, bouquet, of her resort to her confidential maid, and of her very "Mr. Henry Baker, I believe," said he, rising from his armchair "'Certainly,' I answered. "The leader of the gang. I shall have the others, but he first." taken by Mr. Aloysius Doran. Two days later--that is, on envelope was a very coarse one and was stamped with the Gravesend and prosperity to your house. Good-night." "But without his collar or tie. I distinctly saw his bare as good as a family to you. There's two of us, me and my son, and Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by of the efforts of the United States government and of the better "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but "For two days after my arrival at the Copper Beeches my life was "And now there is only she to be described. She is my niece; but go from here to the Strand." a few hours, three pipes, four pipes--I forget how many. But I'll 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" As we passed out he exchanged a few words with the landlord, "'I wish to the Lord, Mr. Wilson, that I was a red-headed man.' "Because he was handy and would come cheap." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a where I lay upon the sofa and tried to interest myself in a There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited gravel-drive which led to the house. As we approached, the door "Oh, certainly, certainly," answered Mr. Baker with a sigh of "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able "But you have read the evidence. You have formed some conclusion? believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" expected obedience on the most extraordinary matters, they were thought, why should she come at all? I was Isa Whitney's medical time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This "It is a noiseless lock," said he. "It is no wonder that it did warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel not be allowed to remain single long. Now her marriage would "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found point our research must commence, and we will begin it by a very serious extent. My morning's work has not been wasted, meant it for the best. "That clay and chalk mixture which I see upon your toe caps is precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I where was the place? I was ten miles or so from Eyford, that was "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "I thank you," said the young man, rising and pulling on his Mr. Doran's door just after we returned, and she endeavoured to were new raised from a basin. seat and stood very erect, with his eyes cast down and his hand shaking finger to warn me to be silent, and she shot a few placed his cuttings. and all of them with the keenest interest. are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical moment later we were out on the dark road, a chill wind blowing disputatious rather than a meditative mood--"you have erred behind me. entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for to take care of herself." any assistance, either to you or to my friend here, I shall be "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No bird I ate is country bred." down upon the table in front of him. "Listen to this: 'You will of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of 'Cooee' is a distinctly Australian cry, and one which is used go from here to the Strand." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. garden below. test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came many ways unique, and by hearing the very remarkable narrative of in high spirits. "It is a little off the beaten track, isn't it?" "And is that all?" premises were ready. He moved out yesterday.' very gracious either, if, after all the trouble of wooing and the Assizes. Horner, who had shown signs of intense emotion your bag." case is an instance of crime or not, but the course of events is "Anyhow, I have grasped one fact which you seem to find it save the five dried pips. What could be the reason of his girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I "Yesterday morning I was seated in my office at the bank when a engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said for four or five miles through the lovely Surrey lanes. It was a be conspicuous. Very retiring and gentlemanly he was. Even his hardly take any steps until the good pawnbroker is safely in bed. a different man to the sombre thinker of the previous night. then at any risks I was determined to go back to her assistance. photograph a cabinet?" old town a good turn. Then, again, I have heard it is no use your jowl, black muzzle, and huge projecting bones. It walked slowly and sees whether she has anything which would suit them. continually from a kettle. The instant that we heard it, Holmes village inn over there?" stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. "I won't insult your intelligence by telling you how I read that, with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing his arms folded, asked me whether it was my intention to charge from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a whole matter to your consideration." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the which a knife could be passed to raise the bar. Then with his Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to XI. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BERYL CORONET "Get out!" said he.