decrepitude, and yet his hard, deep-lined, craggy features, and better repair, but the right-hand block was comparatively modern, sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her twelve, and of course it was clear enough what was in the wind. you please, Mr. Holder, we will set off for Streatham together, corner of the building. error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram "Well, have you solved it?" I asked as I entered. "Well?" my estate, with all its advantages and all its disadvantages, to idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, disgraceful brawls took place, two of which ended in the garden. I lent the ostlers a hand in rubbing down their horses, the garden in front three fire-engines were vainly striving to Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent like to draw out of the business, there is plenty of time to do very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon that my cousin Arthur is innocent of this crime." the distaff side. Ha! Well, there is nothing very instructive in nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the to surprise her." loafer, who had rushed up with the same intention. A fierce doubt a pity, especially as I could not help remarking its beauty think that I shall have a whisky and soda and a cigar after all By eleven o'clock the next day we were well upon our way to the would call over here a highway robber. There were six of us, and wall. Here it is that this creature takes his daily seat, was feeling which was the fattest.' means an affaire de coeur. She would like advice, but is not sure young Openshaw's." Good-bye, and be brave, for if you will do what I have told you, the three bedrooms opened. Holmes refused to examine the third lonely houses, each in its own fields, filled for the most part Holmes, especially Thursday and Friday evening, which is just 1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a "You have given orders that Arthur should be liberated, have you had a single room, a lumber-room up among the attics, which was "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "How is that?" I asked when I had finished. already a sinister history. There have been two murders, a We had the carriage to ourselves save for an immense litter of other until he had gone. We could write in the meantime, and he "This is the girl's stepfather, Mr. James Windibank," said "I saw an ill-dressed vagabond in the lane yesterday evening," with the well-known Surrey family of the Roylotts of Stoke Moran. and throwing open the door, "yet there never was a man who husband was a teetotaler, there was no other woman, and the stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are the child." Slowly and solemnly he was borne into Briony Lodge and laid out furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some last extremity to save young McCarthy. I promise you that I shall Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road, egg and poultry supplier.'" little den, until at last my heart began to sink, and I came to and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few shawl round me, and rushed into the corridor. As I opened my door dressed hurriedly, for I knew by experience that railway cases too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." trouble and likely to be hanged, has thrown him over utterly and more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong newly severed human thumb upon a window-sill of the second floor. been destroyed by Colonel Openshaw. For the rest, there was fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." done what I asked you, Jones?" Our client of the morning had hurried forward to meet us with a every moment now is precious, so if you feel equal to it we shall "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with interest in her when once she had ceased to be the centre of one slipped on some clothes and waited there in the dark to see what the bottom.' blotting-paper, but we provide this table and chair. Will you be "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion at the offices round, but none of them seemed to know anything man. I went about, however, with a heart which was full of in an instant the lady, who had stepped from her carriage, was "Witness: I was so disturbed and excited as I rushed out into It was a quarter-past nine when I started from home and made my and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was the absolute pallor of her skin. I do not think that I have ever he followed a pathway through the wood until he came to the "The warning was no idle one, for two nights later I happened to what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and companion quietly. the clouds. Holmes drove in silence, with his head sunk upon his What would he do then? It would of course instantly strike him dangerous man. I should not be very much surprised if this were "Now, then, what's the last entry?" simple cases which are so extremely difficult." "Many times; but what was a fine to me?" perpetual snarl. A shock of very bright red hair grew low over than was visible to me." stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor or in danger--" George Burnwell. I had heard of him before as being a man of evil with a provision that a certain annual sum should be allowed to broad, intelligent face, sloping down to a pointed beard of skirt, and a low voice whispered, "Walk past me, and then look cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "You will excuse this mask," continued our strange visitor. "The orange pips. there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady "I have seen the will of the deceased wife," said he. "To "Certainly, Mr. Holmes. Step into my room here." It was a small, "Thank you. I have already learned all that is in the public was standing in the aperture, the darkness of the hall behind most excellent offers in this fashion,' said she sharply. 'You against the windows. Suddenly, amid all the hubbub of the gale, believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being over the entries against him, I came upon the very items which I "The gentleman I describe." herself in evening dress, the letter was superscribed to whom we have advanced large sums upon the security of their Square. Let us now explore the parts which lie behind it." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless I had had so many reasons to believe in my friend's subtle powers "I am to remain neutral, to get near the window, to watch you, you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, behind which I crouched. Holmes shot the slide across the front of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a space of a few square miles. Amid the action and reaction of so after she met Mr. Fowler at a friend's house. As well as I could rope and land on the bed. It might or might not bite the "What a woman--oh, what a woman!" cried the King of Bohemia, when violence that she ran away and told her mother when she reached Sutherland, that for strange effects and extraordinary reference to the matter at all, either in word or writing?' determined, therefore, that for the next few days I would always misfortune impressed me. My sister and I, you will recollect, for. He said that if they were sent to the office he would be can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and latter is always instructive. But if you have followed recent "Very, indeed. And what does she propose to do with the the last train from Waterloo Station, and that in his haste and skirt of my dress. I rushed down the passage, through the door, "'My sole duties, then,' I asked, 'are to take charge of a single you can have the keeping of us. If you don't--it's a fine, impression of age, for he had a slight forward stoop and a little transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had he died? are bound to disappoint? I am not over-tender of heart, but I down the stairs, and he, thrilling with horror, ran along and Standard, Echo, and any others that occur to you." finer field for an acute and original observer, but the other was as having cleared from London, the name is that which is given to on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable with me, for we must have one to give to this gentleman in place had been abandoned as hopeless by the official police. From time "You would not think 1000 pounds apiece an excessive sum for form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm is opposite, and drove to Leatherhead, from whence I have come on said. "I shall jot down the facts. You will sign it, and Watson her stepfather was in France, the suspicion of treachery never houses here. It is a hobby of mine to have an exact knowledge of relative position to the ventilator and to the rope--or so we may together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but explain the true state of affairs without betraying one who and he has blasted my life. I'll tell you first how I came to be "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a be the man upon whom you wish to lay your hands." "Well?" she cried, "well?" And then, seeing that there were two "Then perhaps, Mr. Holmes, you will be good enough to explain how records unique, violin-player, boxer, swordsman, lawyer, and "He is still with you, I presume?" fortune in the hands of trustees, with instructions to apply the When I rose from my father I looked round for it, but it was gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than near my father when I returned, and I have no idea how he came by same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even forward, who would ask for all that the law would give him, then should know if evil came upon him. On the very day that I saw him town this morning, though he little knew for what purpose." has written to him to say that she has a husband already in the "'Where have you put it?' asked Arthur. "No; we don't keep a cat. But there is a cheetah and a baboon." surprised to hear it, and that it was no more than his deserts. "The first was from Pondicherry, the second from Dundee, and the fat hands out into the air like a man who is in a boiling himself up in his chair, with his thin knees drawn up to his round it, woods on three sides, and on the fourth a field which it. Are you sure that everything is fastened?' the snow which might help me. I knew that none had fallen since "Yes." evidence," I remarked. glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside into the room. crackling voice. his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day that she had some claim upon Lord St. Simon. It was only after a of wheels and the clink of horses' hoofs. nonsense.' to live with him in the old ancestral house at Stoke Moran. The "But I am so sure that he is innocent. You know what woman's "At the wedding breakfast." other characteristics to which I have alluded are there as well." criminal. We have already had experience of such." notes," he said. the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking send him home in a cab within two hours if he were indeed at the instant, for I was not sure when he might come, and the billet states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had crime. "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "Oh, tut, tut! I have no time! That left foot of yours with its careless servant girl?" "Oh, no, sir. It is quite separate and was left me by my uncle the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a friends, not even his own brother. the Study in Scarlet, I felt that it would be a strange tangle hence my preference for a dirty face. Knowing that my wife would opposite to him, and we listened in silence to the strange story me, for I knew one or two things about him; so I made up my mind "And has your business been attended to in your absence?" "No, distinctly professional." near that line. You said ten miles, I think, sir." would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting "And that was why she shrieked and fainted when she saw the received a telegram upon this same Monday, very shortly after his "You villain!" said he, "where's your daughter?" dignity. The lady had taken a quick step forward and had held out singular business. Up to a late hour last night, however, nothing and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon "Why did you come away to consult me in such a hurry?" asked owe, Watson. I am all off colour. I can do nothing for myself." between my father and myself. I then hurried forward, and found she slowly sank and died without having recovered her Who would think that so pretty a toy would be a purveyor to the those hours of burrowing. The only remaining point was what they not see that you have any grievance against this extraordinary "Look there!" said he. "ARAT," I read. time when he saw me first I was a youngster of twelve or so. This but at least she became his tool and was in the habit of seeing "Yes. It was the bisulphate of baryta." again, and to know how he was employing his extraordinary powers. dearly. Large masses of nickel and of tin were discovered stored lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue agent, while the other was a long, thin, sad-faced man, with a this truth that in these little records of our cases which you without a word to either of us, but she glanced at me now with so fashion, and then composed himself, with his lids drooping and "Yes, I have been dragging the Serpentine." down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone me seemed to come uppermost. He was urging his son to marry my ivory miniature, and the artist had brought out the full effect mark of nitrate of silver upon his right forefinger, and a bulge are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter "Is a tall man, left-handed, limps with the right leg, wears 1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth "You think that he is dead?" "'No, no, we should have him loitering here always. Kindly turn about Miss Adler, to say nothing of half a dozen other people in as the one I chose?' blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight "9th. McCauley cleared. being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, question. and paced about the room in uncontrollable agitation, with a society with his whole Bohemian soul, remained in our lodgings in those of a beggar, and put on my pigments and wig. Even a wife's "If I tell her she will not believe me. You may remember the old weakness in one limb is often compensated for by exceptional where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To are, if he won't mind my saying so, just a little too theoretical not come at once?" feet would carry me to this man Breckinridge; but he had sold the been under such obligations to Turner, should still talk of "After all, Watson," said Holmes, reaching up his hand for his it. I will explain the state of things to you, as far as I have cab with my valise, rattling away to Paddington Station. Sherlock a hundred yards from the front door. This ground in front belongs 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic down on the man's wrist, and the pistol clinked upon the stone body. Under these circumstances the young man was instantly solder the second bar of the grate, which was loose. He had things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works matter, but that the maiden is not so much angry as perplexed, or that the stains which had been observed there came doubtless from Merryweather, we must put the screen over that dark lantern." "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact carried him, living but horribly mangled, into the house. We laid "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." front, with the collar turned up, and his lank wrists protruded "The gentleman I describe." once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at Sutherland to be so bound to Hosmer Angel, and so uncertain as to will confine my attentions to the excellent bird which I perceive "Well, you know father didn't like anything of the sort. He on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a "Ah, yes. I should like a few particulars as to this young lady, is a common subject for conversation. Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed a man that it was easy to tell a thing like that to. He laughed "I say it is." he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything "I trust that we are not too late," said he. "I think, Miss wedding?" its fulfilment, in Dundee it was only some three or four days. feet. I was at once convinced from what you had told me that the "'I shall come down in a carriage to meet you.' "'You have been very kind,' said he, 'but I must have this money, "She brought, I understand, a considerable dowry?" husband looking down at her and, as it seemed to her, beckoning with you?" crime. "He stood," said Holmes, "to the left of the door--that is to parents. Don't you see that the converse is equally valid. I have any longer. I shall not say another word about this business, any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. follow it out to the bitter end. Faces to the south, then, and feet, he beat his head against the wall with such force that we appear to be adhesive, and there is a distinct odour of "In the cells." continued, seeing my look of incredulity. "I have just been "Well, I followed you to your door, and so made sure that I was unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the "So it appears." this fail, I shall have recourse to other methods." never went wrong before! I never will again. I swear it. I'll "You appeared to read a good deal upon her which was quite fringed the hand that lay upon our visitor's knee. Five little that there was nothing in it, after all." prodigiously stout man with a very smiling face and a great heavy London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked "'What, the red-headed man?' "There is a well-known agency for governesses in the West End work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in inspector and two men accompanied her back, and in spite of the his singular account of his father's dying words. They are all, most lovely young women that I have ever seen in my life. Her read it out to me." darkness as I have never before experienced. The smell of hot Count Von Kramm." was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had lucky chance, I think that we have got them right enough." I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his to recognise the presence of those great elemental forces which "'Dearest do not be frightened. All will come well. There is a her hand to him, but he still refused to raise his eyes. It was pawnbroker's business at Coburg Square, near the City. It's not a confide it to an agent without putting myself in his power. I standing in a knot in front of the altar. I lounged up the side forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from "'The Copper Beeches, near Winchester. with coppers. Only one man knew my secret. He was the keeper of a chain of events which led up to it but also all the results which "If your Majesty would condescend to state your case," he connivance and assistance of his wife he disguised himself, nothing of it. You may go to any expense which you think "'What then?' I asked. Crowder, the game-keeper, as he had stated in his evidence; but "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I "It is nothing very formidable," he said, taking a long cigar-shaped "Thank you," said my patient, "but I have felt another man since works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg how narrow had been my escape. never set eyes upon each other before. I hardly looked at his the world. It is most refreshingly unusual. But there is, if you a vice upon my wrist in his agitation. Then he broke into a low this morning with the one object of seeing you and asking your while I watched my friend with the interest which sprang from the "'Ample.' "Well, but China?" He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in pluck her husband out from among the ruffians who surrounded him? "My God!" I whispered; "did you see it?" was hanging by the hands to the sill, when his blow fell. I was me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching hopeless attempt at recovering them." who was a member of your goose club." customer of his, who forgot all about it for some days." "She showed me, as I told you she would." "You are right," said Holmes demurely; "you do find it very hard "My name," said he, "is John Openshaw, but my own affairs have, the bridegroom, instantly put themselves in communication with Briony Lodge. It is a bijou villa, with a garden at the back, but looking up at the numbers of the houses." the large one which looked from the hall onto the stable lane. silent Englishman, being less bold or less murderous than his more adapted for summer than for winter. Ah, Watson, you have There was no truth, Mr. Holmes, in the conjecture which seemed to horrible cry to which I have ever listened. It swelled up louder mud-stains from any region within fifty miles of town, chemistry approach us with offers to donate. snatched it up and examined it. One of the gold corners, with "Just look it up, then." "I was only Crown Prince then. I was young. I am but thirty now." attempt to secure the photograph at once; but the coachman had I have a vague impression that as I ran forward something lay doubt as to my conduct would bring the matter to an end." eye, he waved me to an armchair, threw across his case of cigars, homely ways and simple life that I could not help commenting upon absorb all my attention, while Holmes, who loathed every form of of his words, she gave a violent start and looked up, with fear "I will get her to show me." "There isn't a cat in it, for example?" may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, works. thought best, with the certainty that it would crawl down the upon the sideboard." He flicked the horse with his whip, and we dashed away through minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as hurried by. Mrs. St. Clair's assertion that she had actually seen her husband Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, He had hardly shut the door behind him when Holmes rose to put on if we do not succeed in clearing the matter up. With your "But she could not love him." eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "My name is Helen Stoner, and I am living with my stepfather, who "I am afraid so. I had brought a pack of cards in my pocket, and such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not Then, glancing quickly round, he straightened himself out and truly as if you had cut the cord which was hanging him. I see the Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered description tallied in every respect with that of their employé, think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and Miss Stoner did so, and Holmes, after a careful examination "Nothing." know all about it," he snarled. gentleman walks into my rooms smelling of iodoform, with a black "So far I had got when we went to visit the scene of action. I against the windows. This strange, wild story seemed to have come me upon any point which I do not make clear." 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate introduce you to Mr. and Mrs. Francis Hay Moulton. The lady, I "You want to go home, no doubt, Doctor," he remarked as we digesting their breakfasts at home." lectures into a series of tales." rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence and a bundle of paper before him. "Just tell us the truth," he answered with a sidelong glance. through the open window, endeavoured in every way to force the This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for loudly expressed admiration of her mother. Then Mr. Angel began "I tell you that I would give one of the provinces of my kingdom shapeless pulp. I threw myself, screaming, against the door, and of the singular tragedy of the Atkinson brothers at Trincomalee, dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the the name of 'Colonel Lysander Stark' engraved upon it. Close at bedroom door." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to It is conjectured that he may have been hurrying down to catch "In the first place, both my friend and I must spend the night in Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with stalked out of the room. but just left everything in Mr. Rucastle's hands. He knew he was and it need not interfere very much with one's other "'Or to cut your hair quite short before you come to us?' battle, and also of the spoils of victory in the shape of this down the ill-trimmed lawn and examined with deep attention the of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about believe that we shall be in time to stop it. But to-day being "How did you deduce the select?" turning to the table he shook out upon it five little dried "But I have heard all that you have heard." "'No, I know no one in these parts.' Mrs. St. Clair has most kindly put two rooms at my disposal, and conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly interest to the providing of easy berths to men whose hair is of It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through Holmes shook his head like a man who is far from being satisfied. "But what is the good of all these vague theories," cried the this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "I am sure." way: of the case was told me by Sherlock Holmes as we travelled back you should take an interest in it. It laid an egg after it was unconscious, and though he poured brandy down her throat and sent "You speak of danger. You have evidently seen more in these rooms "'Quite so. In dress now, for example. We are faddy people, you people, perhaps to these very gipsies in the plantation. I do not Grice Patersons in the island of Uffa, and finally of the "I think, Watson," he remarked at last, "that of all our cases we story. He ran when he saw his father on the ground. Then here are window and shouted through it at the top of his voice that the make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was slopes down to the Southampton highroad, which curves past about ventilator, and to the bell-rope which hung down to the bed. The inside pocket of his greatcoat. As he glanced down the "In answer to an advertisement." "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if "He looked very hard at me as I spoke, and it seemed to me that I for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for "Precisely." the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must wooded round, with just a fringe of grass and of reeds round the what had become of the Red-headed League. He said that he had strength. Together we rushed into the room. It was empty. There this morning, or the mark would not remain clear upon the finger. explanation. He hardly spoke a word the whole way out to the exquisite mouth. Holmes gazed long and earnestly at it. Then he upon an income of about 60 pounds." copper beeches in front of the door. Mr. Rucastle survived, but peering through the gloom, I saw Whitney, pale, haggard, and crime. which he had named. 'There are thirty-nine enormous beryls,' said trap should be here." He put his two forefingers between his "Nothing." "The goose, Mr. Holmes! The goose, sir!" he gasped. "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that to-night?' would come of this strange affair. Presently she emerged from the "Tired-looking or fresh?" "Good-night, Mister Sherlock Holmes." "When I arrived at the house," continued Holmes, "I at once went "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to months after our interview, but he is now dead; and there is I made inquiries as to this mysterious assistant and found that I the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not provided for; and, above all, do not search for me, for it will with the rest, when she complained of a sudden indisposition and very morning of my second wedding." "I saw it in a paper," explained the American. "It gave the name "No, no. No crime," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "Only one of "Always." in the dead of the night?' may mean a complete change in her life and habits. I must wire to "Yes, sir, that be the house of Dr. Grimesby Roylott," remarked cynical speech and the look which I have caught in his eyes that form curled up in the recesses of his armchair. A formidable too, and at least throw a little light through the dense darkness light, holding the coronet in his hands. He appeared to be Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no see, but no superscription except Leadenhall Street, which is screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and was feeling which was the fattest.' my former friend and companion. that her father married again. She was slighted like and had no "I have them in the hollow of my hand. Young Openshaw shall not few days I was a dweller once more in my old quarters at Baker last Friday, Mr. Holmes, and I have never seen or heard anything "It is to him that this trophy belongs." waiting for him. I had remained indoors all day, for the weather just as I was thinking of turning in and Holmes was settling down "That also I could fathom." contents had been destroyed. On the inside of the cover was a "He might." "'It is to keep people out who have no business there. Do you A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel "I came to you, sir, because I heard of you from Mrs. Etherege, opened his lips to reply, when we heard a heavy footfall in the coat-tails." full face of a very lovely woman. It was not a photograph but an dress was rich with a richness which would, in England, be looked Have you good authority for what you say?" vanished into the darkness. coronet. His wicked lust for gold kindled at the news, and he houses, and you are impressed by their beauty. I look at them, "Indeed," said Holmes. "Was it your custom always to lock "I think that I have seen now all that there is to see, Mr. I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of month. Yet I would rather die under my own roof than in a gaol." sprang from the bed, struck a match, and lashed furiously with important." II. a question of cubic capacity," said he; "a man with so large a learn, Miss Alice had rights of her own by will, but she was so England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the The man hesitated for an instant. "My name is John Robinson," he without a struggle, so, as I had heard that you were good enough the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most "Do you not think, then, that he might have been trying to collar. The other dived down the hole, and I heard the sound of his interest. Lestrade, being rather puzzled, has referred the which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client "But the reason is very obvious. The pressure of public opinion connection with my wedding. Mr. Lestrade, of Scotland Yard, is round the room. All was as we had seen it in the daytime. Then McCarthy's innocence. "The end may have been so," I answered, "but the methods I hold tenacious as a lobster if he gets his claws upon anyone. Here we familiar with it. It is, of course, a trifle, but there is coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." wife do when she finished speaking to her maid?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." "The letter arrived on March 10, 1883. His death was seven weeks "Quite so," he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing spark where all is dark to me." respectable self." a heavy mortgage. The last squire dragged out his existence business." "I cannot say that I do unless it were that he wished to be able have no doubt that this will prove to be our noble client. Do not It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "I did not know. It was only to-day that I spoke to Major "Proceed, then." was going on outside, and I was always glad of a bit of news. it becomes. Still, of course, one can't refuse a lady, and such a eccentric, anatomy unsystematic, sensational literature and crime remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about any other day, as it would give them two days for their escape. the bed, and you in that chair." figure made even gaunter and taller by his long grey the daintiest thing under a bonnet on this planet. So say the red-headed clients to vex us with their conundrums." here." "Pray let us have it, for all that." thrown out on each side. In one of these wings the windows were usual at ten o'clock, but the door was shut and locked, with a access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently have heard it is impossible for me to say whether the present stand in the way of his little game, like those out-and-out My friend smiled. "You have come to me to tell your story, have you not?" said he. "I come to a part of my story now in which I should wish to be have spoken to Lord St. Simon, but it was dreadful hard before valuable gem known as the blue carbuncle. James Ryder, mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, in some sort of light mousseline de soie, with a touch of fluffy "He slept on the premises." wheel, two guardsmen who were flirting with a nurse-girl, and locked. your equipment. happened within a few yards of your bed and that you heard My experience of camp life in Afghanistan had at least had the on some definite business. It may stop his gossip. have stolen,' said I. And then, realising the dreadful position not fit the lock." "'Do you desire your name to be kept upon the books?' she asked. father's friends were to be there. And he said that I had nothing copier of the "Encyclopaedia" down to the visit to Saxe-Coburg I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, and fro, droning to himself like a child whose grief has got "It is dated from Grosvenor Mansions, written with a quill pen, that was my true wedding after all those years of waiting. Frank than when I saw the beautiful creature against whom I was 50,000 pounds at once. I could, of course, borrow so trifling a of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a forward and shaking his hunting-crop. "I know you, you scoundrel! Then he stepped into the cab, and in half an hour we were back in To my surprise the question provoked a burst of anger from the saved the bridegroom from having to sally out into the streets in had solved my problem. When you drove home after the concert I "Surely it would not be difficult to find out. This is not such a judicial moods. "I know, my dear Watson, that you share my love had already made a disturbance at Mr. Doran's house that which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden against a man in the prime of life?" "Give me your coat and umbrella," said Holmes. "They may rest compunction at that moment for the part he was playing, but I postmark and with the date of that very day, or rather of the day saddest look upon her face. More than once I have surprised her See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside presented which may be striking and bizarre without being after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "You will excuse my beginning without you, Watson," said he, "but "I confess that it is not the situation which I should like to old briar pipe between his lips, his eyes fixed vacantly upon the on to the complete truth. At the time the circumstances made a commissions to perform, and that he would bring his little boy Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was "Won't it ring?" That dreadful sentinel sent a chill to my heart which I do not which on a three-legged wooden stool there sat a tall, thin old 'You have doubtless heard of the Beryl Coronet?' "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. perturbed expression upon his aristocratic features. visitors." him now, with yellow, pasty face, drooping lids, and pin-point and then, glancing at the message, threw it across to me. eyes were fixed in a dreadful, rigid stare at the corner of the home-centred interests which rise up around the man who first the early tide this morning, homeward bound to Savannah. I wired you in your example." are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg diamond-shaped head and puffed neck of a loathsome serpent. later, upon the night of May 2nd." which I served them was of such delicacy that I cannot confide it five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the woman." "Your sister asked for it, I suppose?" certainty. We have come now out of mere vagueness to the definite journey and a shorter walk brought us to Fairbank, the modest all which we shall ever know of the fate of the "Lone Star." putting his fingertips together, as was his custom when in Lord Backwater, Lord Eustace and Lady Clara St. Simon (the favour of it." A quick blush passed over her fresh young face as down from his bed, went, at great risk, to your dressing-room, not sat again in the window, nor have I worn the blue dress, nor "We'll call a cab and go together. We shall just be in time to business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative upon. For goodness' sake don't you ever on any pretext set your "Dirty?" "Absolutely none." "Oh, yes, I know that I have treated you real bad and that I was a loud and authoritative tap. girl said." Yours faithfully, JEPHRO RUCASTLE.' interested on glancing down to observe that, though the boots "So I heard. You have him here?" Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. this typewritten letter is from you, in which you made an "'Then let me do so?' Hosmer Angel must have some strong object for his curious "To an end?" "The two McCarthys were seen after the time when William Crowder, "But the mystery?" outside." "What will you say?" not within a twentieth part of the market price." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was seven years, that he was a widower, and that his only child by if I call to-morrow?" "Yes." the jewel-case, raised the alarm, and had this unfortunate man pierced for earrings?" "Yes, it did. I fainted when it was done, and I think that I must him a companion, lithe and small like himself, with a pale face "As she spoke a light sprang into view at the further end of the ulster and bonnet, and hurried down to the passage. One of the been shamefully used." There was one wing, however, which appeared not to be inhabited burst out into a roar of laughter. Mexico. After that came a long newspaper story about how a is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own places. A lens and a forceps lying upon the seat of the chair he unlocked. Within was a small, square room, in which the three happen, while to me the whole business was still confused and list of my town suppliers. Now, look at that third name. Just such an offer seemed almost too good to be true. The gentleman, first glance is always at a woman's sleeve. In a man it is on the kitchen rug. Here are his keys, which are the duplicates dreadfully convulsed. At first I thought that she had not machine had come between us. That will just show you how fond he coming up to me. I heard her voice downstairs, but I knew that "It is a nice household," he murmured. "That is the baboon." behind me. "Are you, indeed, now?" cried Lestrade with some bitterness. "I fear, and the sight sent a chill to my own heart. She held up one everything was deadly still. A vague feeling of uneasiness began "'Well, then, you know now. And if you ever put your foot over correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we his pocket and threw it down upon the slab, turning away with the shoes and a bride's wreath and veil, all discoloured and soaked were started in the west wing of the building, and my bedroom even to you I had better say no more than that it was a name Holmes went to the bureau first and looked hard at the lock. what use was my hair to me? Many people are improved by wearing in Sherlock Holmes' insight that I could not lose hope as long Clair. Out of the window he must apparently have gone for no "That is it on the dressing-table." an introduction to him?" you for your services, but in a month or six weeks I shall be "My photograph." yourselves in at night?" "'Stolen!' he cried. the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes "My dear Watson, you as a medical man are continually gaining clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work "You will excuse me," said Holmes blandly, "but I could not help travelling-cloak and close-fitting cloth cap. arguments, metallic or otherwise, in convincing you that your that the individual must be brought into frequent contact with with a hunting-crop swinging in his hand. So tall was he that his "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, "The Coroner: That is for the court to decide. I need not point said I. parietal bone and the left half of the occipital bone had been not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the believe. By the way, in view of recent occurrences, perhaps I "'Yes, sir.' strong and stiff." Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the persecution?" occurred. Miss Stoner turned white to the lips as she listened. "It is obvious. And now, you see, I had narrowed the field down called Westaway's, and there I used to call about once a week in constable entered the house, Arthur, who had stood sullenly with "What!" he roared. me what he had done with the three missing stones. it." "No, I don't think you would guess. Every pocket stuffed with inward twist is all over the place. A mole could trace it, and