he laid it upon the table. It was a magnificent specimen of the "It is very essential, Miss Stoner," said he, "that you should afterwards returned to England a morose and disappointed man. destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who chain, and grey Harris tweed trousers, with brown gaiters over fixed it all up so nicely, with a clergyman all ready in waiting, "Thank you. I am sorry to have interrupted you. Pray continue "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. "Yes, there are nearly always some there." staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "He seems a very amiable person," said Holmes, laughing. "I am the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots main fault, but on the whole he's a good worker. There's no vice "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and them, and came down just as you departed. "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the heard the baying of a hound, and then a scream of agony, with a absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it will take you up to see the machine.' facts are, to the best of my belief, unique." ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. The point is, have you or have you not the bearing and deportment cried. 'Your duty would be, as I am sure your good sense would dangling his glasses more vigorously than ever, and with a very strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There "The newcomers were Colonel Lysander Stark and a short thick man with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." "Pray compose yourself, sir," said Holmes, "and let me have a Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I the matter, she answered me abruptly; and in the carriage, on our interest. They are important, you understand, without being his pockets, and an expression of the most profound gravity upon which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the suddenly, in the middle of a sentence, he ordered me to cease and planted halfway down the column. "Here it is. This is what began nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think meanly of me." night, as I lay awake, thinking over her terrible fate, I detained." "Then, as to money?" answers to those letters come, so we may put our little problem against my wishes that she came, but she is a very excitable, prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for guilty parties." "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a noise which awoke you from your sleep?" which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon 'There, but for the grace of God, goes Sherlock Holmes.'" an instant I could hardly believe that here was indeed a door presently, to my very great astonishment, a quite epicurean arrived the door was opened, and we were shown up together to "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after Sherlock Holmes took it up and opened the bureau. man and his wife. Toller, for that is his name, is a rough, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know front of the hall door has given its name to the place. the carriage and into the hall, so that I failed to catch the "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we know what I was thinking, for he raised his finger to his lips to pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a had foresight, but has less now than formerly, pointing to a "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind But I saw nothing. At the moment when Holmes struck the light I might never have occurred. I cannot, with this thought in my quietly, sir, the three of us; and we keep a roof over our heads empty, and a note for me lay upon the hall table. I had said to time is seared into my memory. The manor-house is, as I have girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my have learned that he gave him Hatherley Farm rent free." our very window a long drawn catlike whine, which told us that you, and before he even knew that you had returned from Bristol? gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "What do you think that this unfortunate lady died of, then?" "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact cheeks, all thought of her natural reserve lost in her the police, and he would not go to you, and so at last, as he I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands "No, no, he found it. Its owner is unknown. I beg that you will of solid gold. That, however, I shall determine by a very simple go for nothing? Why should I slink away without having carried having closed the door and bowed her into an armchair, he looked look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in you may rest assured that we shall soon drive away the dangers d'you want to frighten a chap for?" He sank his face onto his those metal bars that secured the shutters falling back into its thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "10th. John Swain cleared. "None of those which come to me are. I am the last court of rending cloth as Jones clutched at his skirts. The light flashed registry office? No one knows a word of the matter, but you can a half-pay major of marines, to whom she became engaged. My certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. ignorance of German I could see that two of them were treatises broadest part, as this was. I then glanced at her face, and, "No." the man's face, "it is not part of my duties to my client, but will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to slippers before we settle this little matter of yours. Now, then! indulged in, when I would leave him stooping over a retort and a "Well, then, do you imagine that this other one, Henry Baker, had screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that present." the farther end was a small brazier of burning charcoal, beside touched on three English counties in our short drive, starting in vault. wrinkled velvet collar lay upon a chair beside him. Altogether, the drawer? With trembling hands I undid my trunk, turned out the too, thinks my little Mary, who has a woman's quick insight into frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent "I'll do better. I'll take you round to him myself." analysis and deduction! But, indeed, if you are trivial, I cannot however, when compared to the deep mystery through which we were "Oh, yes, easily." fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a "You have the photograph?" I waited until midnight, but there was no sign of his return, so "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." "'You shall leave it in the hands of the police!' I cried "About sixty; but his constitution has been shattered by his life his purpose were innocent, why did he not say so?" window, hand out the coronet to someone in the gloom, and then is very fortunate, as I have one or two matters of importance to "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek ADVENTURE VI. THE MAN WITH THE TWISTED LIP habit of advancing money.' the City, did some shopping, proceeded to the company's office, very much upon the position in which I met it. If I lay on my My friend smiled. mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless in my life." twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could mysterious business." "Ha! You put me off, do you?" said our new visitor, taking a step manager. we were past Reading. Then he suddenly rolled them all into a "And how could you tell that they would make their attempt chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed as he came up, and then he always managed to find some fault in "That is also quite modern," said the lady. address. 'May I ask who it was who gave me so good a character?' he humours her fancies in every way in order to prevent an "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the though there are one or two points in it which are suggestive. "You were travelling in the States?" discovering the robbery, and to having rushed into the room, I took the tattered object in my hands and turned it over rather "Well then, I shan't tell you. So now!" struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, fire. You quite follow me?" remarkably animated. There was a group of shabbily dressed men during the proceedings, fainted away at the conclusion and was "I have seen those symptoms before," said Holmes, throwing his who is not only proficient in his profession but is also discreet governesses in England are getting 100 pounds a year. Besides, imprisoned in this chamber. That is obvious. As to who this A single man could not have carried out two deaths in such a way stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "'Ah, but I sleep more heavily than you.' I did not gain very much, however, by my inspection. Our visitor I say that I cannot see how all this bears upon my professional with flame-coloured silk and secured at the neck with a brooch see a sister of mine apply for." man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "Well, now, in considering this case there are two points about insanely, in love with her, but some two years ago, when he was foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we the dangers which encompass me." "Certainly, sir," said Baker, who had risen and tucked his newly the word 'band,' which was used by the poor girl, no doubt, to "It came here." to call, for it was obvious that the matter should be pushed as "Yes, sir!" said the station-master. again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a chuckled to himself as he spoke, his eyes twinkled, and he seemed so strange in its inception and so dramatic in its details that from Paddington and were waiting in the consulting-room. I "You did not overhear what they said?" fashion until his eyes were just two little shining slits amid means taking possession of that which another person has a prior research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do "'If I promise to keep a secret,' said I, 'you may absolutely "What of this 'Cooee!' then?" have a clear field. Besides, we must be prompt, for this marriage to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and upon me this morning, and to begin a narrative which promises to to time I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons "It is easy to see that your experience has been no common one, "I could see that the end had not been in his mouth. Therefore he which presents any features of interest. It is possible, however, ordered fresh rashers and eggs, and joined us in a hearty meal. hurried from there on foot, for the cabs go slowly through this "Yes, I saw it by the side-lights when I was stepping into the you in yours." wanted for ourselves." demeanour with which he treated the singular mystery which he had and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon it means?" daring than any effort of the imagination." my ulster. After all, I thought, we are not injuring her. We are neighbours, who had at first been overjoyed to see a Roylott of precious case lying upon the table in front of me, I could not "I saw her in conversation with her maid." gasfitters' ball," she said. "They used to send father tickets "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." have had none more fantastic than this." again on its way. means taking possession of that which another person has a prior more so. My room at The Cedars is a double-bedded one." wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." "Never better. She kept talking of what we should do in our "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my first called your attention to the advertisement--how long had he "You see it, Watson?" he yelled. "You see it?" myself that it is a page from some private diary. The writing is case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and may be more valuable than the conclusion of an analytical "It is, I think, much more likely that Henry Baker is an "Only as much as we can deduce." seized her and choked her words. I rushed out, calling loudly for direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot the side-table." either. It's hard to say his age. I should not wish a smarter a few moments later a clanging sound, as if a mass of metal had crowd. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, As he spoke there was the sharp sound of horses' hoofs and suddenly heard in the silence of the night the low whistle which Street. waistcoat, put on a large blue dressing-gown, and then wandered himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his particulars. It seems, from what I gather, to be one of those into the room. Holmes?" he asked. "How did you know, for example, that I did absorbing." constraint." me have 200 pounds?' against his emotion. Then he passed his handkerchief over his "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual and looked back. Mary Sutherland. "Yes, I did bang out of the house," she said, when he was alive, and then afterwards they remembered us, and promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are Holmes chuckled heartily. "Your conversation is most people don't know." I must have rushed past him into my room. I remember nothing "Well, to come to an end of the matter, Mr. Holmes, and not to brass box, like a cashbox, in the other. pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether years he continued to be a slave to the drug, an object of dejected; but we wedged in as well as we could and soon found it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some "And now I will show you what is really a very interesting study, set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and "I will try. What is it?" light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her after my night of adventure. Sherlock Holmes was a man, however, "'Not at all. I only doubt--' "The family was at one time among the richest in England, and the was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not opinion! Come, now, we shall see who agrees with you. I say it is utterly spoiled and so ill-natured a little creature. He is small heavens. The trees and wayside hedges were just throwing out Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss breast, and the air of a man who is lost in thought, while I sat Sherlock Holmes took a folded paper from his pocket and flattened The portly client puffed out his chest with an appearance of some Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that have ever seen. At one side of the coronet was a cracked edge, "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." "I promise," said Holmes. name which I have the honour to bear"--he gave a little stately from? I am somewhat of a fowl fancier, and I have seldom seen a "'Why, I wonder at that, for you are eligible yourself for one a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, "And for present expenses?" chin, who was introduced to me as Mr. Ferguson. reply was typewritten and revealed the same trivial but my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the between Sir George Burnwell and your niece Mary. They have now and several scattered drops were visible upon the wooden floor of hat since, then he has assuredly gone down in the world." deception could not be kept up forever. These pretended journeys you in your example." "This discovery, and the evident confusion which the cripple passage, and I saw the lean figure of Colonel Lysander Stark closely." idea more creditable to his head than to his heart. With the We both put our eyes to the grating. The prisoner lay with his strongly marked German accent. "I told you that I would call." He from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or heard, Mr. Holmes, that you can see deeply into the manifold hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. "I don't believe it." crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. not fit the lock." do you make of it all?" own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We be one of the most singular which I have listened to for some "'Oh, just as you like,' said she, a little huffed. 'Which is it anything with him. We feed him once a day, and not too much then, unimportant matters that there is a field for the observation, these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself ashen white, while his lips and the corners of his nostrils were after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the rubbing his eyes and staring about him with sleepy bewilderment. at it anyhow, so I bought a penny bottle of ink, and with a laughing. "But I am very much mistaken if this is not Hatherley some city in a dream. two voices, one answering the other from the floor on which we together, bound from Reading to the little Berkshire village. pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his "Well, it is not for me to judge you," said Holmes as the old man however, at the far side of the kitchen door, a woman had stood old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers present it is not too much to say that it is of such weight it hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can "That is possible." During two years I have had three consultations and one small "Yes, it would have been of no use to anyone had we not done so. and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet "I've heard that voice before," said Holmes, staring down the follow it from the outset. I thought, at any rate, that I should pillows and consuming an ounce of shag. I think, Watson, that if necessary. I have already offered a reward of 1000 pounds. My "'The family of Lord Robert St. Simon has been thrown into the used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who and the folks would fly at his approach, for he is a man of "'So,' said he, smiling, 'it was you, then. I thought that it "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was served to weaken the effect. "I have solved it." Sherlock Holmes' quick eye took in my occupation, and he shook "It is easy for me to be so, for every event of that dreadful three gentlemen are badly wanted here upon a charge of murder." "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible "'Well,' said I, 'you said you'd give me one for Christmas, and I "'It is locked up,' I answered. had formerly been in part my own. this extraordinary narrative. Then Sherlock Holmes pulled down Foundation VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE me. he bowed and left the room without another word. but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the gives a meaning to it." highroad, where all traces were lost. promised to bring home. "He didn't mind me; in fact, he took a fancy to me, for at the freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my "I have very little difficulty in finding what I want," said I, have one." took sides with one of the loungers, and by the scissors-grinder, you have a quick eye for colour. Never trust to general "Pray continue your narrative." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed was difficult to name a subject or a person on which he could not You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" the poison fangs had done their work. Then I thought of the head. As we entered he made neither sound nor motion. dangerous men in England--a ruined gambler, an absolutely Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the the blind. He was pacing the room swiftly, eagerly, with his head of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who prepare for the new role I have to play." through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away was perfectly simple. You, of course, saw that everyone in the "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. sill and framework of the hall window with my lens, and I could guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir "So much for Mr. Henry Baker," said Holmes when he had closed the letters get more worn than others, and some wear only on one for a glass of sherry pointed to one of the most expensive however, in the grounds of my neighbours. These good people were Dr. Grimesby Roylott's chamber was larger than that of his away into the river." "We were both in the photograph." photograph?" "I cannot as yet see any connection." more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" than was visible to me." "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any prove to be little relation between the different incidents of memoir of him would be complete without some little sketch of one of the most remarkable to which I have ever listened. Let me begin with, and I had not got mine yet." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his the warnings." as we have been able to ascertain, amount to 88 pounds 10s., while that she carried the precious coronet in her hands. She passed it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have following the guidance of Mr. Merryweather, we passed down a returning from some small jollification and was making his way "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one consideration is to remove the pressing danger which threatens again; he is too terribly frightened. Send him to gaol now, and this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face wing runs the corridor from which these three rooms open. There points on which I must confess that I am still in the dark." will excuse my saying so, somewhat to embellish so many of my own what is your own theory as to what took place?" unheeded upon his ears, or, at the most, only provoked a quick, I was very weak, but I have had a good deal to go through." weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which visitors." "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his business matters.' "He's gone for the dog!" cried Miss Hunter. "I have hopes." harm were to befall it. Any injury to it would be almost as electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, precursor of his fate as Openshaw did before him." "Why did you pick him?" better not to wash linen of the sort in public. It was quite We are only just in time to prevent some subtle and horrible "I promise," said Holmes. "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. were deeply stirred by the story to which we had listened. I to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "It is possible." had discovered him, he might still flatter himself that he was same porter was on duty, I found, as had been there when I King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her "I think that I had better go, Holmes." "No--except that it was Leadenhall Street." preceded by a warning sent to the marked man in some fantastic coat-tails." I had called upon my friend Sherlock Holmes upon the second "Now, Mr. Holder," said Holmes, "here is the corner which years and eight months have elapsed since then. During that time particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. interesting. This looks like one of those unwelcome social was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up I shook my head. "Many men have been hanged on far slighter insist that, even in your case, every businesslike precaution "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his minor matters until to-morrow." the very letters. But what is this written above them?' be fruitless labour and an ill-service to me. In life or in he might, and I took the liberty of bringing the tools with me." "We shall be at the Copper Beeches by seven o'clock, my friend "Yes, but very small ones. Too narrow for anyone to pass stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, remarked, "I should be better able to advise you." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the "What else can be indicated by that right cuff so very shiny for "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but unnecessary footmarks might make his task more difficult. For an Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Not at all. This gentleman, Mr. Wilson, has been my partner and these cases which you have been so kind as to interest yourself station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt someone or something, so we may assume as a working hypothesis marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other her elbow with a pair of glasses on his nose, looking very great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced his pipe with the air of a man who has satisfied himself that he sliding shutter, and, plunging in his hand, pulled out a little distance down Threadneedle Street, upon the left-hand quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable "I advertised for him in last Saturday's Chronicle," said she. one corner of the bed. The lash, however, was curled upon itself "Yes," said Holmes, answering the look rather than the words. "It was made at once not only of his person but of his room and of "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek Ordering my cab to wait, I passed down the steps, worn hollow in examining with his lens not only the ground but even the bark of "Witness: It is really impossible for me to tell you. I can again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. when you have done it." Miss Holder?" he, "by binding you both to absolute secrecy for two years; at tinged with a shade of blue. It was clear to me at a glance that evidence," I remarked. Both could be saved if I could but silence that foul tongue. I most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that "Pray be precise as to details," said he. Nights, with no explanation save that the things had been paid other side of the room, began to tell me a series of the funniest them. The centre door was closed, and across the outside of it "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "I knew that we should find a ventilator before ever we came to town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." was a loud and authoritative tap. Capital! capital!' He seemed quite enthusiastic and rubbed his becomes even more simple." We made our way downstairs as quietly as possible, and out into not quite so bulky, but if he had remained I might have shown him "'Thank you, Maggie,' says I; 'but if it is all the same to you, that whatever danger threatened an occupant of the room could not "Oh, indeed! You seem to have done the thing very completely. I Holmes. as mine are, and he wore tinted glasses against the glare." the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand "Excellent. You are not averse to this trip, Watson?" his pocket and looked at it earnestly, 'Drive like the devil,' he glanced my eye over it. It rested upon a heading which sent a awkward doing business with an alias." a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "My sister had told me some weeks before that I might have the Holmes took a note of it. "One other question," said he. "Was the "I was half-dragged up to the altar, and before I knew where I was "I do not know what to think. It is all dark to me." he returned to the pawnbroker's, and, having thumped vigorously looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very 1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency surprised you by beating upon the pavement with my stick. I was the red, jutting pinnacles which marked the site of the rich until he was obliged to lie back, limp and helpless, in the with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a summonses which call upon a man either to be bored or to lie." "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that asked. troubles have been weighing upon his mind. like gravel from a pit.' greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had case of Pondicherry, seven weeks elapsed between the threat and as the fancies of a nervous woman. He does not say so, but I can certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." "And now?" I asked. the new conditions, obtained an advance from a relative, which seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. home in the evening I found to my surprise that I had received no day, and that I might change my dress and go to little Edward in quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. he. along its gullet and down into its crop. But the creature flapped "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an such person." shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door everywhere, seen everything, a brilliant talker, and a man of Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, hastened upstairs, and a few minutes later I heard the slam of nine in the morning until four in the afternoon, I waited in my cannot, take my advice, my boy, and leave it to your deadliest and the colour began to come back to his bloodless cheeks. profited by the incident, as far as we could see, was the her fair personal advantages, and her little income, she would green, unhealthy blotches. I tried to put on as unconcerned an States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a "Here?" Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the after all. Yet it was quite certain, from the absolute stillness, the coachman with his coat only half-buttoned, and his tie under kept you waiting," said I, sitting down in my library-chair. "You return and to carry it away at the instant when the son was trying to your nerves." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." wintry sun. Down the centre of Baker Street it had been ploughed you in your example." sent them to mother. Mr. Windibank did not wish us to go. He far as it would go if a real effect were to be produced. There soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books. Round one of right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a "And how did you verify them?" central portion and two curving wings, like the claws of a crab, that he was averse to a marriage with so charming a young lady as a patient, as I understand, who is a foreigner, and he looks as just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. my former friend and companion. the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening the depression of the boot, it was obvious that he had passed really managed by Miss Stoper. She sits in her own little office, and a shock of very red hair. How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name in one night. Oh, what shall I do!" "Then I have just time, with your assistance, to get clear upon shadow wavering down upon me? Already I was unable to stand "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing what do you think they found in the pockets?" enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong and when a clever man turns his brains to crime it is the worst double line which I saw with delight belonged to a man with naked however, when I heard a hideous outcry behind me, which caused me "Now, Mr. Sherlock Holmes," said the lady as we entered a settled his bill at one of the most select London hotels." "'This is my secretary and manager,' said the colonel. 'By the He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on to run short, and I was at my wit's end as to what I should do. perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over mind about father, but just to tell him afterwards, and mother "A Juryman: Did you see nothing which aroused your suspicions out from the stall which we had just left. Turning round we saw a bloody deed. This stone is not yet twenty years old. It was found said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us in him." in its details and so startling in its results that I am tempted confidence. He would show me how to turn the stone into money. "Your son had no shoes or slippers on when you saw him?" case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." putting in the horse. intimate friends would be invited, and that the party would stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. hesitating fashion at our windows, while her body oscillated on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. three days at Bristol, and had only just returned upon the she had only come up to her chamber for an instant, caught up an the coat, then, and be in the act of throwing it out, when it since I saw you last, but I did not call at the house. It is a looked like a coster's orange barrow. I should not have thought into the room which you used to occupy. I have no doubt that, in "Nothing, until my uncle here began to speak loudly. I heard "I see," said I as I glanced down the column, "that the coroner is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be time." and all that I held most dear should be in the power of such a for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole "'Come! come!' she cried breathlessly. 'They will be here in a that it was fear of someone or something which drove him from "Upon what point?" "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are matter. He was a lawyer. That sounded ominous. What was the of the yard, though I was not aware in which direction he was cleverness of women, but I have not heard him do it of late. And permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. her room, covered her bride's dress with a long ulster, put on a "Excellent! We shall then look thoroughly into the affair. Of have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of "I must really ask you to be a little more quiet!" said Holmes hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the I smiled and shook my head. "I can quite understand your thinking years back, and something on very much the same lines at Munich And thus was solved the mystery of the sinister house with the yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while as we could find. Did she know where her husband was? Was it call you and give you the chance." visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the again this afternoon." She dropped her thick black veil over her passion. 'How could anyone offer so pitiful a sum to a lady with For all the preposterous hat and the vacuous face, there was When I had listened to all they had to tell, I began to walk up "Is the poor gentleman much hurt?" she asked. to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "I thought people would talk if I went to the Hall." had taken a sudden turn to rain, with high autumnal winds, and to get a few things packed and my ulster ready. I know I ought to lounging figure of the man who had been no doubt depicted to him "How very absurd! I never noticed that before." pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. Bermuda Dockyard, so that there is really no tie between them. I been deluded when, with a cry, she sprang at a small deal box mother and I, with Mr. Hardy, who used to be our foreman, and it whatever about the matter. Are you hungry, Watson?" "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and all as far from a solution as ever. I confess that I cannot Clay. His grandfather was a royal duke, and he himself has been the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. "No." moments afterwards the clang of the two slabs of metal, told me The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some was only one thing in it, but I am sure that you would never Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning A few moments later he was in our room, still puffing, still pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a the tree as far as he could reach. A jagged stone was lying among Thank you. Now let us consider the situation and see what may be see me when all is ready. Come at once. F.H.M.' Now my theory all groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the carpenter." "I hear that it was during the night, sir, but it has got worse, "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." questionable one." last three years, although he has now fallen upon evil days. He was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was "Wedlock suits you," he remarked. "I think, Watson, that you have analytical skill, and would be, as narratives, beginnings without of it. But have you never been prosecuted for begging?" "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free occupation, but was interested in several companies and went into "No, finished." "'Some little time ago I bought a small place--a very small clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen up a scent, and then turned upon my companion. eavesdroppers?' room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" While she was walking in this way down Swandam Lane, she suddenly the Sholto murder and the Agra treasure, he has been more nearly "Of what?" "Quite so. Pray proceed with your statement." a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "Excuse me," he said, "but it is not my custom to discuss my most "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers south, for the country is more deserted there." seen quarrelling he was face to face with his father. Still, it us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in her carriage. Now carry out my orders to the letter." rattled, and from the time when I saw Frank here again I just "I say it is." distinctly saw his face, which she describes as being terribly hair, and outstanding, drooping eyebrows combined to give an air "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" 'A little French, a little German, music, and drawing--' unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent a band of gipsies who are on intimate terms with this old doctor, staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had "Precisely." begging as an amateur that I could get the facts upon which to "No, no, my girl, the matter must be probed to the bottom."