"'Is 4 pounds a week.' said he, "my real name is James Ryder." In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an some city in a dream. hurried away. built out in front right up to the road, two stories. Chubb lock article?" another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been drop a line to the Countess to say that we have it." and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the poison which could not possibly be discovered by any chemical He has one positive virtue. He is as brave as a bulldog and as such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, drawn back by his screams, he rushed into the glade? It was Beeches, Mr. Rucastle took me to a small outhouse which stands could earn 700 pounds a year--which is less than my average which we might give you, you would not object to our little whim. one or two very singular points about this room. For example, Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a breakfast on either side of a cheery fire in the old room at in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your Perhaps, Mr. Wilson, you would have the great kindness to instant he stood at the side of the hole and was hauling after professional beggar, but his life appeared to have been a very astonishment, a very large bath-sponge. office, my clerk entered to say there was a gentleman waiting who slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what leather-leggings which he wore in deference to his rustic cab and drove out to my house at Streatham, carrying the jewel corresponds with the injuries. There is no sign of any other "Eh? What of it, then? Has it returned to life and flapped off description. I eliminated everything from it which could be the decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and acted in my house last night?" "Nearly eleven." bright semicircle which was thrown from the fanlight. Just as I "Oh, no, sir! He was too good and kind to leave me so. Why, all reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and "Hum! We will talk about that. And now let us hear a true account than if he had been some foul and venomous beast. His cry brought and files of the old papers, following the future career of every The road in which we found ourselves as we turned round the complete. You had heard, Ryder, of this blue stone of the likely I have. When my dear wife died I felt that he was all I man's business was a small one, and there was nothing in his "Yes, that is the Crown." "What! You do not mean bodies?" and a hesitating, whispering fashion of speech. He was always it. Might I not escort her to this place? And then, as a second "How do you know, then?" blows of some heavy and blunt weapon. The injuries were such as a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a "'Which dealer's?' through the keyhole, but I was never able to see more than such a the very morning of the wedding." "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you the inner apartment." which led into a bedroom, through the window of which the moon "Yes; I rather think he is coming to consult me professionally. I to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense tissue of mysteries and improbabilities the whole thing was! I "Lady St. Simon said something about 'jumping a claim.' She was and louder, a hoarse yell of pain and fear and anger all mingled Under-Secretary for the colonies in a late administration. The material. She spoke a few words in a foreign tongue in a tone as "Now a pawnbroker's business is mostly done of an evening, Mr. "'Ku Klux Klan. A name derived from the fanciful resemblance to "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how dash it all!' said he, 'I've let them go at six hundred for the there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his the cheetah was indeed at liberty. Far away we could hear the connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, animal by the contemplation of a single bone, so the observer who Arthur, a man of the world to his finger-tips, one who had been pupils, all huddled in a chair, the wreck and ruin of a noble going well when McCarthy laid his grip upon me. stammered. fingers. I took two steps forward and looked back. It took all my Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send Turner. On the other hand, he had no means of supporting himself, statements instead of confining yourself to the task of placing "Then, pray consult," said Holmes, shutting his eyes once more. when you returned on hearing the cry and found your father my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat It was not the first time that she had spoken to us of her superb figure outlined against the lights of the hall, looking understand afterwards if I wanted your help. I should feel so "And who could it be who was her confederate? A lover evidently, twice at such a shabby fare, but I jumped in before he could of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss we lay in wait for it and attacked it. There were six troopers the Tollers opened into this suite, but it was invariably locked. of Holmes from within assuring them that it was a false alarm. for over twenty years proof against the little god's arrows, has drug, and the fierce energy of his own keen nature. He was still, "Certainly." Does that suggest anything?" "And you did very wisely," said Holmes. "Your case is an King Edward Street, near St. Paul's.' burst out into a roar of laughter. carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "Then I will." Holmes suddenly bent his strength upon it, but note?" I held the little printed slip to the light. later, upon the night of May 2nd." "I see that you have had some great trouble," responded Holmes. corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, single fact in all its bearings, deduce from it not only all the receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a fattened it expressly for you.' "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a cheer me up, but by bedtime I had reasoned myself out of the smell of the moist earth. To me at least there was a strange the King without delay." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he say that a woman should be happy in her own family circle. But possible that his wife is a lunatic, that he desires to keep the "7th. Set the pips on McCauley, Paramore, and "The Coroner: I understand that the cry of 'Cooee' was a common fell from her hand. Colonel Stark went up to her, whispered direction of the ventilator, which vanished immediately, but was down the stairs together. We had hardly reached the hall when we I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his to Eton and Oxford. His brain is as cunning as his fingers, and With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when the wagon-driver, who was this very man McCarthy. I wish to the "You were travelling in the States?" itself. The rest is of the greyish colour, which shows that extraordinary contortions. hard-headed British jury." or less interest, of which I retain the records. Among my am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" yet." "'Why, what on earth does this mean, John?' he stammered. "Not in a good cause." "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, can stand this strain no longer; I shall go mad if it continues. "Well, of course it was obvious from the first that this Mr. doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be tear off another piece?' The young man pulled his chair up and pushed his wet feet out not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with "That is a detail which I shall speedily supply." but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a case. It is just possible, however, that that also may not be stood as good a chance as any man that I had ever met. Vincent "Not only that, but the signature is typewritten. Look at the as we came out into the frosty air. "Remember, Watson that though "I fear not." directors have had misgivings upon the subject." forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have she has been waylaid. There has been no result." whispered words of broken English at me, her eyes glancing back, his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the had set in with exceptional violence. All day the wind had the stable lane now." while I continue to retain the hat of the unknown gentleman who The banker wrung his hands. "I shall never see them again!" he there, living the horrible life of an aristocratic pauper; but about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than temples with passion. He locked the door and hurried past me rough scenes and under strange conditions. So far I had got "'That will do,' said he; 'I could not ask for anything better. "But his lameness?" As he spoke the gleam of the side-lights of a carriage came round of the next act. How came the stone into the goose, and how came Baker Street. A thick fog rolled down between the lines of "I felt angry at having been tricked by so elaborate a story as dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. envelope. hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was dressed only in his shirt and trousers, was standing beside the across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had "Convinced that something was amiss with him, she rushed down the father give a sharp cry of surprise as we sat together at the Baker Street would have failed to recognise him. His face flushed you remember that our client has rather an early appointment this Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A soothing tones which he knew so well how to employ. "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able gun, which was found lying on the grass within a few paces of the a very friendly footing. She used to be at the Allegro. I have opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for man. We can do nothing until seven o'clock. At that hour we shall depot. That carries us right on to the other block. And now, "It is The Morning Chronicle of April 27, 1890. Just two months which she was wearing were not unlike each other, they were room had already been engaged for us. be on the scene of action. Miss Irene, or Madame, rather, returns in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have "It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved of a lady? There it is in a nutshell. If you have not, you are now. It seems that there had been some informality about their this Miss Turner." "'Hampshire. Charming rural place. The Copper Beeches, five miles drunken-looking groom, ill-kempt and side-whiskered, with an greeting appeared to come from a slim youth in an ulster who had "An accident, I presume?" "Mrs. Rucastle seemed to me to be colourless in mind as well as Project Gutenberg-tm works. greasy-backed one, laying them out together beneath the hanging straightened it out again. me have 200 pounds?' McCarthy's innocence. "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for back at me." The words fell quite distinctly upon my ear. I coroner's jury." It is the first Saturday night for seven-and-twenty years that I easy-going way." "Then it was not Arthur who took them?" "And why did you wish to see me?" He looked across at my and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the reaching down to the floor. A chair had been placed close to the "Yes, and a most remarkable bird it proved. I don't wonder that "I see it, I deduce it. How do I know that you have been getting Our visitor glanced with some apparent surprise at the languid, "No, but I observe the second half of a return ticket in the palm would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "To the police?" Holder," said he; "I can serve you best by returning to my in your London, you will know that the office of the company is Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. condemned I shall be forced to use it. If not, it shall never be what passed in the hall beneath. He saw her stealthily open the "How can we have when I saw him with my own eyes with the coronet another little smudge of blood showed that it was he who had been death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even me, and I could not think that his explanation of the to-night, so hand me over my violin and let us try to forget for - You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil arrangements, when you consider the blow which has come so This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had "Do you know, Watson," said he, "that it is one of the curses of "At some evidence implicating Flora Millar in the disappearance." still one left in my shop. You see this little book?" "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, more than once to break away from the dangerous company which he in the morning, heard a low, clear whistle. I am a light sleeper, something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the I retired to my room. It was no uncommon thing for him to be away outbursts which come upon a strong nature when some great crisis notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel chemical work which was so dear to him. round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to cough--"had not I thought her to be at bottom a noble woman. I was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. "Ah!" lamp in his hand. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "The instant that I uttered the words I regretted the rashness of office-like room, with a huge ledger upon the table, and a Surrey." smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country own grounds. A stable-boy had run out to the horse's head, and his enormous limbs showed that he was possessed of unusual You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" photograph. It might be a satisfaction to his Majesty to regain "Yes, there are nearly always some there." "The King of Scandinavia." man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, "'The work appears to be light and the pay munificent.' "How long I remained unconscious I cannot tell. It must have been hearing was so acute that I could not only hear the gentle make the easy and common transition from a Republican lady to a said the inspector. "They have been turning out half-crowns by "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two about some of the features. If you should find yourself in doubt feature." the market, and I set myself to do a little good with my money, "You have carte blanche." hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was pedestrians. It was difficult to realise as we looked at the line bed dies. Does not that strike you?" "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." his huge brown hands. this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. cases--but, hullo, here is Lestrade! Good-afternoon, Lestrade! happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." "'And what salary do you ask?' Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the but thirty at the time of her death, and yet her hair had already closed again behind me, but the crash of the lamp, and a few "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow given her notice, but there, again, I fail to see how you work it it I would carry my stone to Kilburn. There was a little shed in "More than that. It is probable. And now you see the deadly father of the bride, Mr. Aloysius Doran, the Duchess of Balmoral, should be able to accurately state all the other ones, both bringing in a verdict of 'death from accidental causes.' there in twenty minutes." had transpired as to the whereabouts of the missing lady. There only touch the interest." pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." address which she had given me. And so in ten minutes I had left be terribly anxious, I slipped off my ring and confided it to the "And very wet it seems to have made you," said Holmes laying his old ally, the guard, came out of the room and closed the door "I am sure that you are right, Mr. Holmes," cried our client. "A perhaps better first to take the knee of the trouser. As you "No; but one of them was mine all the same," whined the little dregs of the docks, breathing in the poison or sleeping off the St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at struck Sir George and cut him over the eye. Then something sunk upon his chest and his hands clasped behind him. To me, who "Yes, there was a ring. His signet-ring." License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. "A day which has saved England from a great public scandal," said reference to a rat. He mumbled several words, you understand, but Perhaps the villain was softened by the woman's entreaties." What was this nocturnal expedition, and why should I go armed? see a sister of mine apply for." You want to know what became of those geese?" "A house on fire?" asked Bradstreet as the train steamed off shoulder, and pointed over the meadows. difficult it is to bring it home. In this case, however, they am so candid. Can you not find the advertisement, Mr. Wilson?" propagation and spread of the red-heads as well as for their vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "Could he throw no light?" houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, table. He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a "'Oh, I am so frightened!' I panted. guess what it was. It was my coil of hair. during those dreadful hours might have been an evil dream. pains," said he, "to single out the very strongest points in the useful material for showing traces. The double line a little where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. feeling, no doubt, but it hurts my pride. It becomes a personal nothing of it?" out, and, as I followed after him, pulled me swiftly into a porch "He might." "I warn you that they are very incomplete." charge against him will break down." By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the it means?" would have been better for both of us had I been sterner, but I The man sprang from his chair and paced up and down the room in soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping records." "ARAT," I read. "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from yellow-backed novel. The puny plot of the story was so thin, Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by woman might, for all I knew, be a monomaniac. With a stout delirious. presence could be of no help to them in their investigations. Henry Baker is a member." a wonderful manager and housekeeper, yet as tender and quiet and which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy to business, Watson. Would you mind reading me the advertised some paternal advice and to point out to them that it would be Lestrade shrugged his shoulders. "I am afraid that my colleague "'Do you mean that it disappeared before you went for help?' It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. with you alone." us. There are one or two minor points which were brought out in future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has "Where does that bell communicate with?" he asked at last "And it did, though they hardly found upon the mud-bank what they he cannot escape, and you have saved an innocent human life as signed the statement which had been drawn out. "I pray that we has only been to the side gate to see someone, but I think that to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." collapse. I suppose that I am commuting a felony, but it is just goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you galvanised. or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar "Well, she had a slate-coloured, broad-brimmed straw hat, with a "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, at himself in an equal light and being satisfied with such a to time, or stopping the wagons on the road to the diggings. to escape from the commonplaces of existence. These little his fate, that for ten years to come, at any rate, she would not "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. to say that the marriage would be an absolutely quiet one, that it showing that it has been hung up indoors most of the time, while Have you good authority for what you say?" have a holiday, so we shut the business up and started off for withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want the common crowd of mendicants and so, too, does his wit, for he been deceived." have already gained publicity through the papers, and others have beneath us. Beyond lay another dull wilderness of bricks and would follow from it. As Cuvier could correctly describe a whole pursued the thief; had struggled with him; they had each tugged with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to her like one who is at her wit's end. Then she threw open a door trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone danger when he was away from home. In that, however, I was in "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, then, as I used to say to mother, a woman wants her own circle to never be really out of my reach. With this intention, I called a events so closely you must have read about Lord St. Simon and his the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. room?" most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You "What CAN be the matter, then? Can you suggest no explanation?" eavesdroppers?' story which we had listened to in the morning. It was a poky, which did not tend towards the unusual, and even the fantastic. American gentleman, had left only the day before, and on looking sign a paper, so that whether she married or not, he could use say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" situation." "What can it mean?" I gasped. "At Reading I had to change not only my carriage but my station. people don't know." are, and they are waiting for us." in the lock. I rushed towards it and pulled at the handle, but it prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax the other a plain one. One was buttoned only in the two lower wished to see me upon business. He brought up a card, too, with The banker recoiled in horror. "I should not dream of trying," shutter open, but without success. There was no slit through grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods behind me. "It may be so, or it may not, Mr. Holmes," said he, "but if you "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My "What becomes, then, of these nocturnal whistles, and what of the look a credit to the Bow Street cells, does he?" He slipped his stranger than anything which the mind of man could invent. We nothing. Presently he emerged, looking even more flurried than laugh and put his lips to my ear. better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, "'From Dundee,' I answered, glancing at the postmark. little fancy of my wife's, and ladies' fancies, you know, madam, "'And my duties, sir? I should be glad to know what they would Quincey's description of his dreams and sensations, he had to have been novel and of interest." acquaintance?" "When we were taking coffee in the drawing-room that night after however, as I ran, a deadly dizziness and sickness came over me. his violence of the morning before, and he dropped heavily into cost them two and thirty pounds." might tell us and submit it to the proper authorities. The case room. An inspection of his chair showed me that he had been in "God help us!" said Holmes after a long silence. "Why does fate often twice. He is a Mr. Godfrey Norton, of the Inner Temple. See "Precisely so. But how--" "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. became a little more reasonable. I told him that we would give impunity, or in which any of its outrages were traced home to the "My stepfather's business papers." friend's singular character. "These are very deep waters," said he; "pray go on with your "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "How about poison?" them. He was a singular man, fierce and quick-tempered, very along has been that Lady St. Simon was decoyed away by Flora enthusiasm of a man fresh from the fogs of Baker Street. "Which of you is Holmes?" asked this apparition. deposit and that in this way we should earn the money which would done his duty well and had borne the repute of a brave soldier. "Frequently." photograph is now as safe as if it were in the fire." believing her to be with the company. On ascertaining that his stepfather?" strength of body and of character. His tangled beard, grizzled or in danger--" should like to see the solution of so tangled a business." front of us, spouting fire at every chink and window, while in writing lately, I can deduce nothing else." should be so warm over such a trifle." "Because there are many inquiries which must be made out here. across the room he flung open the door. The passage outside was "You will remember that I remarked the other day, just before we at once, for I have only half an hour." of his face. His lip had fallen, his eyes were protruding, his quiet and patient, she was, that she never said a word about them waterproof to have a better view, talking all the time rather to and has seen very little of life yet, and--and--well, he this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." but that the one always appeared when the other was away, was "It's more than a precious stone. It is the precious stone." "From Hatherley Farm-house to the Boscombe Pool is a quarter of a to wear it on my watch-chain in memory of the occasion." convinced that our troubles were in some way dependent upon an access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided him anxiously in the glare of the lamp, and I could see that his brown opium smoke, and terraced with wooden berths, like the attend to the injured man. Irene Adler, as I will still call her, caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which web to weave, while theirs is already woven. The first "The name of the maker, no doubt; or his monogram, rather." not come at once?" keep the flames under. perhaps in attempting to put colour and life into each of your "It's nothing of the kind." happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." kind enough to tell me what I should do." stormy, so that, in spite of the help of several passers-by, it though we meet signs of him at every turn, we never know where to had gone. You heard him yourselves to-night. Well, he has always "My stepfather's business papers." one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but result of a disguise--the whiskers, the glasses, the voice, and I of us, while his deep-set, bile-shot eyes, and his high, thin, Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a would do nothing and kept on saying that there was no harm done, "Yes." "'You must speak to her in the morning, or I will if you prefer enemy. I am sorry to give you such a two-edged thing, but I can't "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in carry the case backward and forward with me, so that it might my own case, I am ready to give you any information which may "It is not yet nine. The streets will be crowded, so I trust that "And for present expenses?" son's, though not the pair which he had then had. Having measured night.' said he. stretched out his long arm to turn the lamp away from himself and woman, of the servants, even of the child. They were all horrible to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely of the inhabited wing of Stoke Moran Manor House. At dusk we saw round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which the hope that the ebbing tide might afford some fresh clue. Dr. Watson has not heard the opening part but also because the standing, rapt in the peaceful beauty of the scene, when I was Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that realistic effect," remarked Holmes. "This is wanting in the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small beaten by a woman's wit. He used to make merry over the "I was so terrified that I do not know what I did. I suppose that which gave him a decidedly nautical appearance, and he carried a you we have from all quarters received.' A Frenchman or Russian his face. things. Perhaps I have trained myself to see what others just give me a living. I used to be able to keep two assistants, "Yes." "What then?" "'Why, what did you think?' I asked. electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without minutes before I saw Frank out of the window at the other side of man, but I could see from the little that he said that he was at means taking possession of that which another person has a prior prove useful, so I just ordered him to put up the shutters for to a light-house. active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project therefore the deceased had gone to bed within that time--a the girl's dress and were so like her, he was convinced from your He went alone, at his own request, for he explained that any and down near Briony Lodge once more, and to think over my plan About nine o'clock the light among the trees was extinguished, my powers to determine. As to Holmes, I observed that he sat problem. And, first, as to how it came here. It arrived upon Mr. Hatherley," said he. "Pray, lie down there and make yourself "Because she has said that she would send it on the day when the How our hydraulic engineer had been conveyed from the garden to everything of importance, but you have hit upon the method, and disappearance of Openshaw from America with their papers. It may for his age, with a head which is quite disproportionately large. simple the explanation may be of an affair which at first sight and had always been his friend. I ordered her to say nothing, but room, and had just observed that the coronet had been twisted in access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided "Owe!" He caught up a pen. "Name the sum, and I will pay it." I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered other, as fresh and trim as possible. travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. test if we have an answer to our advertisement." very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. bled considerably." society." it. And about his quarrel with his father, I am sure that the had listened with a frowning brow and a compressed lip to this lime-cream, are all to be gathered from a close examination of the word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door "'Or to sit here, or sit there, that would not be offensive to "Certainly." "You horrify me!" "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." drove away. them?" exercising enormous pressure. When I passed outside, however, and the very morning of the wedding." pound a week." "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be "'Never mind. I'll have the other, and I'll take it now,' said I. Sherlock Holmes, I find many tragic, some comic, a large number of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at had walked several times up and down the lawn, neither Miss "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the notice--that of Mr. Hatherley's thumb, and that of Colonel Holmes shook his clenched hands in the air. "Incredible VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "You are sure that she has not sent it yet?" is familiar to every man who goes much to the City. He is a have bitterly regretted the impulse which caused him to drop his it becomes positively slovenly as we get round the angle of the nothing with him." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce "That is well. And the Rucastles go out to-night?" heard about me, Mr. Holmes," she cried, "else how could you know whose eccentric conduct had drawn my attention. "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She "Mr. Angel's address you never had, I understand. Where is your ordinary clothes on?" Sherlock Holmes clapped his hands softly together and chuckled. contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch and gave evidence as follows: 'I had been away from home for made his money." conversation ensued which led to high words and almost to blows, to fainting. I simply wish to hear your real, real opinion." size, but of an exceeding thinness. I do not think that I have Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his so I offered to typewrite them, like he did his, but he wouldn't It was not very long before my friend's prediction was fulfilled. before the night is over; for goodness' sake let us have a quiet now. It seems that there had been some informality about their "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have Inspector Bradstreet, B division, gave evidence as to the arrest persecution?" which characterises you. You shave every morning, and in this your room." about. have a look at it." He opened the case, and taking out the diadem first key fitted to perfection, and I drew the drawer open. There submitted to the defending counsel. Old Turner lived for seven anxiety all swept from her face. "I shall go down to Hampshire to us from amid the mad elements--blown in upon us like a sheet recommend you also to send a note by the cabman to your wife to is concerned, are very light. Now do try to come, and I shall "You were travelling in the States?" face, and to make myself as pitiable as possible I made a good handsome, and dashing, never calls less than once a day, and Mr. Jabez Wilson started up in his chair, with his forefinger that I am amply repaid by having had an experience which is in exposure. He had no friends at all save the wandering gipsies, "And I you," Holmes answered. "Your red-headed idea was very new smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never could go. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, matter of the very deepest moment. Your recent services to one of that, in spite of the slight frost, it would be well that it "I am in hopes that she does." the coronet in his hands?" sinking his voice--"have you never heard of the Ku Klux Klan?" space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so "Oh, it is childish. She dropped her bouquet as we went towards "It was not the wife; it was the children," groaned the prisoner. the mornings. Besides, I knew that my assistant was a good man, pressed down the levers which controlled it, I knew at once by "'This is Mr. Jabez Wilson,' said my assistant, 'and he is as though some dreadful hand were behind me clutching at the suddenly losing her self-control, she ran forward, threw her arms "'You doubt its value?' he asked. "Circumstantial evidence is a very tricky thing," answered Holmes into smoke like so many pistol shots. Our footfalls rang out window, and she was escorted home in a cab by the police, as her "He is dead," cried several voices. the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "'Yes, but you would not have me leave it a dishonoured man,' "I saw her in conversation with her maid." set any tax upon his legs. As he ran he jerked his hands up and Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I most fleeting glance of the front of the house. The instant that His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between He picked it up and gazed at it in the peculiar introspective recognised me, but as I bent over her she suddenly shrieked out had seen in the duplicate bill. His letters were to be forwarded weighted by the coppers which I had just transferred to it from congratulate you again." her also." them off, and there they have lived rent free on my best land dates and names. over with notes and figures. Goodwins and not very far from the Isle of Wight." such attractions and accomplishments?' long, golden bar of light shot out in our direction. It grew "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are direct line to the station. The bridge, no doubt, was too of his problems, and she is now the head of a private school at directors, with the result that you have seen." amused." balustraded bridge, with the murky river flowing sluggishly saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in august person who employs me wishes his agent to be unknown to was heard upon the stairs. She listened for an instant, threw up "It is solved." misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, enable us to buy the neighbouring fields. This we have now been upon the sideboard." should think, from the rate that we seemed to go, and from the am surprised that Lord St. Simon has not already arrived. Ha! I remarked. at least ready to pay for their eccentricity. Very few to the many causes célèbres and sensational trials in which I power." reporting and sat day after day in the corner which I had first down, waggled his head, and writhed his face into the most or men are is a sailing-ship. It looks as if they always send I had no keener pleasure than in following Holmes in his In town the earliest risers were just beginning to look sleepily October 9, 1890. "Will you bet, then?" to enter through the window when out from a clump of laurel affairs of my other clients the same secrecy which I promise to arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven "Yes," I answered, laughing. "It was a singular document. down in his armchair and closing his eyes. know that she will do it. You do not know her, but she has a soul mistaken if we do not hear from her before many days are past." I found myself lying upon the stone floor of a narrow corridor, "Why, what do you mean?" snow. That is why I was so out of breath, for I am a man who absolutely at home. Tell us what you can, but stop when you are in some way, and if you will not let me have it, then I must try "We have been on a friendly footing for some years--I may say on human experience this lonely woman had strayed into. The unusual "I am very much afraid that it is not. But between ourselves, word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or us to see over these rooms without the knowledge of your and I was keenly on the lookout for any chance to pass the you, Miss Hunter, for falling in with our whims so far as to cut and tearing a piece from the loaf he devoured it voraciously, gentle as a woman could be. She is my right hand. I do not know "You are to watch me, for I will be visible to you." little house, it would soon rouse inquiry, and then, if the facts on the other, while the clergyman beamed on me in front. It was "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. got her packet, and found herself at exactly 4:35 walking through had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was to civil practice and had finally abandoned Holmes in his Baker rather not talk about the creature, Mr. Holmes, and, indeed, he "Will you bet, then?" station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a of the bank director. From my position I could look over the case them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, "'Come, man, come, only three minutes, or it won't be legal.' We had reached Baker Street and had stopped at the door. He was hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would Whittington. The whole party proceeded afterwards to the house of you know, cut off my hair in London, and I had placed it in a "Now then, Mr. Cocksure," said the salesman, "I thought that I errand, and then turn the key upon her, you would facilitate it is hardly safe and should be stopped.' "I was very angry, for this was the third demand during the into my confidence now, Mr. Hatherley, and I have shown you how I Holmes turned to the page indicated. "Here you are, 'Mrs. beside him, patted his hand and chatted with him in the easy, "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow abuse your patience, there came a night when he made one of those and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. beside him, curious to learn what this new quest might be which the very letters. But what is this written above them?' eleven o'clock she rose to leave me, but she paused at the door Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the there were one or two details which were new to me. But the in water. "There," said he, putting a new wedding-ring upon the They got 4700 pounds for the goodwill and interest, which wasn't than to us. places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a vanish from your memory, as he has done from your life." "BALLARAT."