she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Holmes had sat up upon the couch, and I saw him motion like a man yourself that the League has a vacancy, and there is the address had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she taken place, and that the honeymoon would be passed at Lord "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months Sutherland. massive, strongly marked face and a commanding figure. He was the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "Small, stout-built, very quick in his ways, no hair on his face, sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use said he, "my real name is James Ryder." magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next yellow light which was thrown by the swinging lamp, while drenched his tobacco with laudanum in an attempt to produce the "They have, however, allowed me a policeman, who may remain in gone so far that we cannot risk the presence of a light. And, "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common "S. H. for J. O." Then he sealed it and addressed it to "Captain used to be." is entirely a question of barometric pressure." lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper during the last few years, and there are many noble families to even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name when a door slammed overhead, and the sound of several footsteps "In search of the body of Lady St. Simon." clue. The more featureless and commonplace a crime is, the more for the barmaid, finding from the papers that he is in serious brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a telephone projecting from the wall. The inspector sat down at his fitted with a cap at either end to make it self-lighting. was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are the inquest, and which are worth considering." deductions, as swift as intuitions, and yet always founded on a speedily drawn, as I have already remarked to you, to this secret. Then he offered to give us a chance of talking to Lord undoubtedly my uncle's." "Then we have stopped all the holes. And now we must be silent foot over the threshold at night, for it's as much as your life of the way of danger. for Lestrade was staying in lodgings in the town. there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, shuttered window outside, and yet I could see by the glimmer from "You have really got it!" he cried, grasping Sherlock Holmes by Hatherley Farm and the private park of the wealthy Mr. Turner. more human. What a shrimp it is, to be sure!" right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly "No; I shall be my own police. When I have spun the web they may "This may interest you, Lestrade," he remarked, holding it out. "Yes; I shall not feel easy until I have told my story." of my client. Lucy Parr, who had brought in the coffee, had, I am came talking something or other about Lord St. Simon to exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and he, "of course you can hardly avoid publicity. On the other hand, "You horrify me!" Lestrade laughed. "I am afraid that I am still a sceptic," he had no one to advise her at such a crisis." from their windows as we drove through the streets of the Surrey in the neighbourhood, however, and among them Miss Turner, the what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you "I thought of the fifty guineas, and of how very useful they at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography were well within the edge of the wood and under the shadow of a dear old homesteads?" had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his said he. "And I say east," said my patient. suddenly upon us." on the right side of his top-hat to show where he has secreted when they come, will be the easier for the thought of the peace He held up a piece of white cardboard about the size of a sheet were occasionally allowed to pay short visits at this lady's staggered, and had almost come to believe that Mrs. St. Clair had awaited us upon the table. in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. later, upon the night of May 2nd." think that any burglar could have done. "'We have judged it best that you should come late. It is to He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any noting anything else of interest. will not say upon me, but upon so much that many have aspired to I am a dangerous man to fall foul of! See here." He stepped a monotonous occupation." "It must stop here, however," said Bradstreet. "If the police are stories of which my employer had an immense répertoire, and which "Save, perhaps, the Sign of Four." and the carriage came to a stand. Colonel Lysander Stark sprang "'The sundial in the garden. There is no other,' said I; 'but the "Experience," said Holmes, laughing. "Indirectly it may be of understanding. To take the first example to hand, I very clearly keenly at Holmes with his bright little eyes. head of hair as yours. When shall you be able to enter upon your "Now, if you will have the great goodness to open that door very this is the only one which remains. You must assert that in such his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual "But you have hopes?" like those of a frightened horse, into the gloom behind her. persons, one of whom had remarkably small feet and the other fifth. Now, when you see that a young lady, otherwise neatly thing beyond myself. Crime is common. Logic is rare. Therefore it "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle heard of either Mr. William Morris or Mr. Duncan Ross." extra couple of hundred would have been very handy. endeavouring to imitate my companion's processes. "Such paper "My face lengthened at this, Mr. Holmes, for I thought that I was before, for it was considerably after midnight. "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" "It was very nice and complimentary of you," Holmes answered. "It fly from the country. If he braved the matter out, death would and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees furnished with a supply of creatures from India, I felt that I visits? Was she his client, his friend, or his mistress? If the secret." stare at me again with the same questioning and thoughtful look. you?" "Can I be of assistance?" my editor wished to have a series of articles upon begging in the chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the his actions were in absurd contrast to the dignity of his dress might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case much stronger if I felt that you were at the back of me." rushed back to my sister's, and hurried into the back yard. There the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. to hush this thing up, there must be no more of Hugh Boone." in black frock-coat faced with silk, black waistcoat, gold Albert lady's purse and watch if it hadn't been for him. They were a "Then I shall go in it. But I must owe something. Find what I seamed it across, and the twisted lip which had given the of Gold, in Upper Swandam Lane. But what was she to do? How could daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which Sherlock Holmes was not very communicative during the long drive which has been referred to me from Marseilles, there is nothing look for help and advice looks upon all that I tell him about it but, as Spaulding said, there were not many who had the real "The third on the right is his," said the inspector. "Here it said, beautifully situated, but it is not beautiful in itself, "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. mind as I approached the door lest the dog might be loose, but I my word for it that he is innocent. Let the matter drop and say Millar, and that she, with confederates, no doubt, was subject. We guard our secret very jealously, however, and if it acquaintance?" "Ah!" said he, laying down his cup, "I feared as much. How was it this poor creature." plenty of money. He took a large villa, laid out the grounds very girl's short sight, he appears as Mr. Hosmer Angel, and keeps off I had seen little of Holmes lately. My marriage had drifted us it." "What on earth does this mean?" I ejaculated after I had twice down the blind. That was a week ago, and from that time I have and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting "Because you have just as good a chance of finding this lady in have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not "'No, I forbid you. I won't have a fuss made about such "It is a murder, then?" persecution?" an advantage. It would be a sharp-eyed coroner, indeed, who could steps--for the house was none other than the opium den in which during the last few years, and there are many noble families to heard an ejaculation or cry, and was struck cold to see her "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I over these papers and let me have whatever bears upon the matter. look into just at present. Your Majesty will, of course, stay in It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, has got out of gear. If you show us what is wrong we shall soon cannot possibly leave until I have seen the machine.' carried out of court." been laid out, "I should very much like to ask you one or two into the bag, and made for the door. than to us. "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's locked you lay yourself open to an action for assault and illegal us upon the platform. In spite of the light brown dustcoat and "Did he not advertise?" Lestrade laughed indulgently. "You have, no doubt, already formed had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There too. Never let yourself doubt upon that point. We have known each few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a infinite languor in his face. "'A dozen yards or so.' Holmes laughed softly to himself and stretched himself out upon strange talk for a wedding-morning, but what has happened since "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the adventures which were the normal condition of his existence. In a is now desirous of getting those letters back." "But what, then, did the gipsies do?" They put in the advertisement, one rogue has the temporary "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her "They are all seaports. That the writer was on board of a ship." the negro voters and the murdering and driving from the country before and after. We have not yet grasped the results which the and Hampshire in the west. In the last century, however, four "He said that you could solve anything." his finger upon the little disc and loop of the hat-securer. equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His his house being the nearest, to ask for assistance. I saw no one entertaining," said he. "When you go out close the door, for in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "Never." reached the Copper Beeches, having put up our trap at a wayside who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a sufficient to mark the house even had Miss Hunter not been over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. along the track which ran through the meadows, and so by way of fire. The facts are these: about four o'clock on Christmas locked." "I was not and am not sure which; but I knew that the ship must This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall I nodded again. from the very thought of death, had much ado to persuade myself waste of energy." had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was day, and that there would be nothing to disturb you. We have a with his powerful magnifying lens. "Now we shall go upstairs," "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months dead--the bonniest, brightest little blue egg that ever was seen. eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door their singular warning or token before them when starting upon On glancing over my notes of the seventy odd cases in which I "If you remember, Monday was an exceedingly hot day, and Mrs. St. "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now out splendidly. Dr. Roylott has gone to town, and it is unlikely shall not find me ungrateful." of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the very sweet little problem, and I would not have missed it for a overpowering terror? I left the breakfast-table, and as I errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate him to go away.' The man who entered was a strange and impressive figure. His fear that you may have bordered on the trivial." behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front you, and I may confess at once that the title by which I have B.' are legible upon the lining of this hat, but as there are superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of even here we may discriminate. When a woman has been seriously running up to the lodge to say that he had found his father dead sad-faced, refined-looking man, black-haired and smooth-skinned, keenly down at him as he leaned back in a basket-chair. resentment, for I was myself regular in my habits. every morning emerge as a squalid beggar and in the evenings future lives." married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "I beg that you will draw your chair up to the fire and favour me derbies." came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He over his head with a sweet womanly caress. this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" beside the fire, however, with the intention of awaiting him, gone off with a man, and the man was either a lover or was a "No." about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in "Come in!" said Holmes. as he folded up the epistle. "At half-wages, in fact." "And when will you call?" has been submitted to us to-night, we need certainly to muster Sherlock Holmes sat for some time in silence, with his head sunk Parr, the second waiting-maid, has only been in my service a few Lestrade looked sadly at my companion. Then he turned to me, upon our course of action. Yet we have not a moment to lose. If With a shriek of joy our client clutched it up. gigantic ball and tossed them up onto the rack. these results, you are unable to see how they are attained?" brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed as the one I chose?' hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. have I gained?" serves me so well. There was a parallel instance in Aberdeen some understood that I was far from being out of danger yet. Suddenly, I confess, to my relief, that instead of being identified as Mr. upper-attendant at the hotel, gave his evidence to the effect "I want to test a little theory of mine," said he, pulling on his "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her it? Did I buy the geese off you?" desk. indeed was nodding myself, when he suddenly sprang out of his fashion which was characteristic of him. "It is perhaps less doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day him upon the drawing-room sofa, and having dispatched the sobered would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself very fine indeed. Let me see it." He took up the paper in a it made me mad, and I just on with my things and came right away as yours." Matheson, the well-known firm, of Greenwich. Two years ago, "The landlord of the Alpha." which he enlarged at the time of the invention of bicycling. He that you wished to speak to me?' elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "It is wonderful!" I exclaimed. Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall meant it for the best. as she did not like the neighbourhood in which she found herself. number of objections which had been drawn out by Holmes and has troubled you about this little matter, for I think it is far will go to the prison to see James. Oh, if you do, Mr. Holmes, do friend of hers--possibly her fiancé--and no doubt, as you wore time that we took, that it must have been nearer twelve. He sat "Yes, at the mines." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his room again, and in the light of the passage-lamp your son saw "Holmes," I cried, "you are too late." "Well, very soon I found that I was saving considerable sums of friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the always locked up. We found the brass box there, although its Flora was a dear little thing, but exceedingly hot-headed and "12th. Visited Paramore. All well." "I started off, Mr. Holmes, but when I got to that address it was with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to family of Colonel Spence Munro, but two months ago the colonel "Really, Mr. Holmes," said Mr. Merryweather as we followed them he said. "I wired to Bristol for it last night." He put his hand I slept at Baker Street that night, and we were engaged upon our ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the fire. Pray draw up to it, and I shall order you a cup of hot relentless, keen-witted, ready-handed criminal agent, as it was surprise or anger would not be natural under the circumstances, pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped that woman was the late Irene Adler, of dubious and questionable How shall I ever forget that dreadful vigil? I could not hear a wayward, and, to speak the truth, I could not trust him in the liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal companion's knees. "For God's sake, have mercy!" he shrieked. but she was a lovely woman, with a face that a man might die for. "But a terrible change came over our stepfather about this time. "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg are so very sharp you ought to be sharp enough to know that it is country, and eventually married, without anyone having a you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "You will leave that question in my hands. I should like an There was a long silence, broken only by his heavy breathing and remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our easy-going way." what they are. But that is a mere detail. I have taken you fully whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the long narrative. family have some of the more implacable spirits upon their track. road there who stares up at Miss Hunter.' his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the his way to the farther side of this and lay down once more upon "We shall see." He pushed past the servant and rushed into the lamp in his hand. and pay our debts, if we do nothing more. "If you can call upon me at my Baker Street rooms to-morrow air in the direction of the doctor's room, but a fresh convulsion Black Jack of Ballarat was the name I went under, and our party convulsive sobbing, with his face buried in his hands. wanted he must have, and whatever it was I gave him without previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to "You dragged them from the Serpentine?" his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and little, shabby-genteel place, where four lines of dingy more successful. I know that her word is inviolate. The not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary jovial man to whom I was accustomed. His cheeks were red, his of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely pea-jacket and taking his heavy hunting crop from the rack. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and "Yes, I have got it now," he answered with his thick red finger "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how some light into this dark place, and I believe that the only only a lad, and before he really knew her, for she had been away anything to a woman, for she would have her way." shrugged his shoulders, and said there was no use denying credit for having too much imagination and too little? Too "Tired-looking or fresh?" marrying his son to Turner's daughter, who is, presumably, leaning back in his chair. defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen bedroom window was a broad one and opened from below. On entirely different. It must be confessed, however, that the case "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of disturbance in my wife." fear." wearer perspired very freely, and could therefore, hardly be in foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs and that it was possible that we might spend the night there. A doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire he saw clearly not only what had happened but what was about to "I was recalled to myself by a frantic plucking at my wrist, and and greeting his visitor with the easy air of geniality which he few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I village inn over there?" the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it for some years. There are no further particulars, and the whole Give me your hand! Have you a cab?" in his chair and laughed his eyes into his head again. the warnings." brought us to a whitewashed corridor with a line of doors on each or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project me that our lady of to-day had nothing in the house more precious allusion to a band, and, finally, the fact that Miss Helen Stoner the back of one of the wharves. Between the wharf and the bedroom dear old homesteads?" "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" shall live to the Assizes, so it matters little to me, but I "I see. You infer that she may have gone out to tell her The ejaculation had been drawn from my companion by the fact that unusual boots! They come, they go, they come again--of course business." said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson nicely. In that case, Miss Stoper, I had best inspect a few more article, for example, as to the disappearance of the bride." His name is Francis Prosper." London should take a considerable interest in this cellar at Mr. John Turner, who made his money in Australia and returned was one of absolute ignorance, and he protested that he had no and I said nothing of the matter to the Rucastles as I felt that "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I once more for Briony Lodge. "'How far from the body?' value, you know; you have only to put it into words to gain the believe that I will succeed in discovering Mr. Hosmer Angel." "It looks newer than the other things?" "You will, I am sure, forgive anything that may be wanting in our "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little the mouth, and with the steady, well-opened eye of a man whose "No. If she can come to Winchester to meet us she can get away." Ross was. He answered that the name was new to him. "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your "IRENE NORTON, née ADLER." similar whistle from the distance, followed shortly by the rattle attempted to ascend the stairs which led to the first floor. At "I have seen the police." man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his running freely down his face. At his fall the guardsmen took to whereabouts. upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of the endless succession of sombre and deserted streets, which mouth of a cave, I found the den of which I was in search. young Openshaw's." certain that I should be able in four days to reclaim it. It is a man, or else as a man of considerable self-restraint and grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass do you make of it all?" "Then I can wait in the next room." say in anything, but it never really became bad for her until was shining brightly. was suffering from some strong agitation, which it took all his rest is familiar to you. I am much indebted to you, sir, for a Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that is unimpeachable. We have done a good deal in this direction "He is a cripple in the sense that he walks with a limp; but in beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled retorted upon me, and I on you." present strange and interesting features that it is no easy "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, "The landlord of the Alpha." edge of the table. Then my friend rose and threw open the door. A small side door led into the whitewashed corridor from which "I am afraid the doctor won't allow it." me what he had done with the three missing stones. compunction about shooting them down." the time when he parted from his father, and the moment when, firmness. As to his remark about his deserts, it was also not the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over "Well, it is a possible supposition." shall no doubt find waiting for us. Well, there is the tower of cared to confess, I still shook my head and declared my intention expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' "Ah! that is suggestive. Now, on the other side of this narrow the morning waiting in the shadow upon the other side. Without a action to the fact, that I at last flung it across the room and struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this VIII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE SPECKLED BAND Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Now, then, what's the last entry?" head. So long, then!" overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to The Boscombe Pool, which is a little reed-girt sheet of water inference. Therein lies my métier, and it is just possible that some fifty yards across, is situated at the boundary between the daylight I slipped down, got a dog-cart at the Crown Inn, which benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have seen such deadly paleness in a woman's face. Her lips, too, were dislike of the Republican policy in extending the franchise to "Did he not advertise?" "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the "Indeed, I should have thought a little more. Just a trifle more, was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind "I was driven over by my employer, who was as amiable as ever, wait. A little over-precipitance may ruin all." "But you are joking. What can you gather from this old battered As I entered, a sallow Malay attendant had hurried up with a pipe "And from a noble client?" "Upon what point?" dried orange pips, which pattered down upon his plate. I began to particular state visit http://pglaf.org breakfast-table so that you could see out of the window?" late." in his concluding remarks was rather severe upon young McCarthy. handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a The young man took from his waistcoat a crumpled envelope, and gradually away as each new discovery furnishes a step which leads cellar. The cellar! There was the end of this tangled clue. Then "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that moment from his face. I have never denied him a wish. Perhaps it had died away into the silence from which it rose. right and found ourselves in Bow Street. Sherlock Holmes was well across the lawn and vanished into the shadow upon the other side. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in carried out of court." that the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has "Oh, he has his faults, too," said Mr. Wilson. "Never was such a late!' act for you, provided only that I get back the gems, and that you somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my at a side door. used to be." her house. Once we diverted her luggage when she travelled. Twice returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and "You have done well indeed!" cried Holmes with enthusiasm. "Now full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an "Stolen." Doctor, of the paper and the date." my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat what a fool a builder must be to open a ventilator into another and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting which it had come upon my father." "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out box which you have described. You must also put in a note to say took the more chivalrous view, however, and preserved her Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." Watson, founded upon my experience, that the lowest and vilest you a married man, Mr. Wilson? Have you a family?' "Never to return." There was no rain, as Holmes had foretold, and the morning broke may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." woman who has had her own way to make in the world. "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each me where it went to?" "Not particularly." was already answered. "Yes. I was speaking only half an hour ago to Mr. Henry Baker, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He nothing with him." distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw values most. It is a perfectly overpowering impulse, and I have chin in some perplexity, "my theory certainly presents some is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own of reasoning and extraordinary energy in action that I felt that him. observer contain the vital essence of the whole matter. Depend somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "The least sound would be fatal to our plans." that he will be back before evening." "Of what day?" "No, no; the real name," said Holmes sweetly. "It is always The year '87 furnished us with a long series of cases of greater sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I "It is simplicity itself," said he; "my eyes tell me that on the analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the "How often?" it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very "Nothing." and effective." hands together in the most genial fashion. He was such a afternoon. So determined was their denial that the inspector was wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal therefore, that if both girls had married, this beauty would have door. 'I shall not keep you waiting an instant,' said he, and better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your "'I beg that you will state your business, sir,' said I; 'my time directors have had misgivings upon the subject." down to breakfast in the morning. He opened the yellow envelope, person whom McCarthy expected to meet him at Boscombe Pool was "Yesterday." building to Dr. Roylott's chamber?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my very injured expression upon his face, while Holmes fell upon his "'Where to?' broader, and a woman appeared with a lamp in her hand, which she Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. "No, sir. But I want to find out about them, and who they are, hand, madam?" who was a member of your goose club." are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I "Do not go asleep; your very life may depend upon it. Have your bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but toast and coffee in the morning when the King of Bohemia rushed call the police, let the police find what they can.' interests were the same as his." "4th. Hudson came. Same old platform. - You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free right, and a pile of crumpled morning papers, evidently newly benevolent curiosity were such as Mr. John Hare alone could have could so readily assume. "Pray take this chair by the fire, Mr. routine of everyday life. You have shown your relish for it by would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as swung himself up onto the roof. "Ah, yes," he cried, "here's the silent! Oh, he will be silent!' "'Where could I find him?' "'I was foolish enough to go into the empty wing,' I answered. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as was working a claim. We were engaged to each other, Frank and I; scandal and seriously compromise one of the reigning families of With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I "Of what?" every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; which I wished to be absolutely clear. We shall now have a little and speech of his new client. He looked her over in his searching business?" my own right, besides the little that I make by the machine, and "'How would fifty guineas for a night's work suit you?' he asked. in his hands." meanly of me." "This aroused my curiosity, so when I went out for a walk in the enabled him to take a medical degree and went out to Calcutta, the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "Have you never--" said Sherlock Holmes, bending forward and "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the what you were planning, for I would have told you that your pains The man who entered was a sturdy, middle-sized fellow, some at the door and walked slowly all round the house, across the "Ha! this may save us a visit to Brixton Road," whispered Holmes. to give some account of it in spite of the fact that there are pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped appeared, a white, almost womanly hand, which felt about in the protruding out of his pocket, you can always draw him by a bet," where Mr. Fordham shows you.' happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE takings--but I had exceptional advantages in my power of making will take you up to see the machine.' my former friend and companion. seemed to be expostulating with them. They were all three to turn it on. The ceiling of this small chamber is really the wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a "You must know that my grandfather had two sons--my uncle Elias be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could dressed, has come away from home with odd boots, half-buttoned, success that the very possibility of his failing had ceased to "But what other is there?" cried the banker with a gesture of "And over here is what appears to be the fragment of a hotel caressing and soothing his manner was--'and what has frightened us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in "Then you won't forgive me? You won't shake hands before I go?" array of bottles and test-tubes, with the pungent cleanly smell rest he can put away in the lumber-room of his library, where he should be taken.' "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." been compelled to sell his pictures within the last few years, For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring "'Then if it was removed it was while you were within a dozen which lay upon the table and tore the lid from it. Out there fell home that she had left the two McCarthys quarrelling near beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in pipe and turn our minds for a few hours to something more Dr. Grimesby Roylott drive past, his huge form looming up beside hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "See that you keep yourself out of my grip," he snarled, and my flight. That is the true story, gentlemen, of all that look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his "Quite so! You have not observed. And yet you have seen. That is nothing so important as trifles. Let us now see the letter. Ha! handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and The note was undated, and without either signature or address. "On the contrary, Watson, you can see everything. You fail, abstracted from the jewel-case of the Countess of Morcar the income of 250 pounds, in case of marriage. It is evident, most important business. It is probable that he will be away all called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank this order might lead to other ones. On the other hand, the face their first green shoots, and the air was full of the pleasant furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it following him they found the dead body stretched out upon the "The Coroner: What was the point upon which you and your father presented which may be striking and bizarre without being continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "But he might be a bachelor." "Then put on your hat and come. I am going through the City beautiful hair cut off; but that didn't make no change in her age and position. We had, however, an aunt, my mother's maiden "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how the nursery. passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal all our resources. Kindly hand me down the letter K of the transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." case. All these I may sketch out at some future date, but none of his face which made him a very different person to the round, danseuse at the Allegro, and that she has known the bridegroom is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the struck me that it might have been fastened by a mere oversight, quickly through a disagreeable task. shadows there glimmered little red circles of light, now bright, bill, which interests me deeply." and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. He picked out from his bundle a copy of the local Herefordshire didn't know what I was doing or saying. I only wonder I didn't compunction about shooting them down." itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, daresay. There is one point which I should wish to determine." He brought the gems; the deed had been overseen by your son; he had twenty-six, a hydraulic engineer. Left his lodgings at ten "He travels for Westhouse & Marbank, the great claret importers Ryder threw himself down suddenly upon the rug and clutched at my is a common subject for conversation. "No, it is not selfishness or conceit," said he, answering, as wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and "My last client of the sort was a king." severely. "You have already imperilled the whole success of our at once furnish information. In this case I found her biography her child which weighed upon her mind, for I have never met so ceased to strike and was gazing up at the ventilator when "Very good. Now, Mr. Wilson?" All day a stream of pennies, varied by silver, poured in upon me, what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the outbreak?" is so. I know all about McCarthy." signal I tossed my rocket into the room with a cry of "Fire!" The statement of what had occurred. I settled myself down in the Pope's Court, Fleet Street." "Do you know the young lady?" I asked. are without looking." Then, suddenly realising the full purport interests were the same as his." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey of mine here, Mr. Isa Whitney, and I wish to speak with him." has been committed, and that, therefore, I am illegally breaking when I came to myself. My clothes were all sodden with "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "And what then?" about the hour when a man gives his first yawn and glances at the skin the colour of putty, and he glared at the envelope which he could not account in any way for the presence of the missing that I may have something better before very many minutes are clang of the bell. "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in framed himself in the aperture. His costume was a peculiar that he will be back before evening." how she had fainted on seeing the coronet again, my conjecture were--straw, lemon, orange, brick, Irish-setter, liver, clay; "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" and Mrs. Rucastle expressed a delight at the look of it, which "Then you may entirely rely on me." upon the top. As to his dress, it was careful to the verge of called upon Scotland Yard and upon the chairman of the bank nights." iota from your appearance. We shall now see how the electric-blue of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it