zigzag of slums to Covent Garden Market. One of the largest "I've wasted time enough," said Lestrade, rising. "I believe in prove that it had been wound up two hours before, and that "What are you going to do, then?" I asked. "Yes, at the mines." "Indeed! My mistress told me that you were likely to call. She rat could hardly pass through." "Ah," said he, "I forgot that I had not seen you for some weeks. sequence of events leading from a rifled jewel-case at one end to make it clearer. I understand that you give me carte blanche to and I was walking down the street with Sherlock Holmes. For two distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no alternately asserted itself, and his extreme exactness and two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for the little fellow with outstretched hands and quivering fingers. "Yes. Her bed this morning had not been slept in, her room was groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the travellers. I had already noticed the peculiarities of the remarked. "I can see nothing," said I, handing it back to my friend. discoloured patches by smearing them with ink. doubt that he will be of the utmost use to me in yours also." "Why," said I, glancing up at my companion, "that was surely the evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they "Then I shall drop you a line to let you know how we progress." that they should use it soon, as it might be discovered, or the investigation into their hands at once. When the inspector and a here or there, or amusing yourself in any manner indicated, that man. "We are on the outskirts of Lee," said my companion. "We have girl's affections from turning towards anyone else. But the said he. "And now, Mr. Wilson, off you go at scratch and tell us said he. Warburton's madness. Of these the latter may have afforded a "There are three hundred pounds in gold and seven hundred in law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be His manner was not effusive. It seldom was; but he was glad, I doing in the opium den, what happened to him when there, where is of the grey cloth seen by young McCarthy. If that were true the Lord that I had shot him then, but I spared him, though I saw his which, granting the son's statement to be correct, was a want of drink, and that a ladder should be ready at the moment DAMAGE. "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and which you have given to mine." Tottering and shaking in all his He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped stretching from the road to the kitchen door, and forming the fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT to force her way up, and perhaps he has already heard from his impressions, my boy, but concentrate yourself upon details. My was there to see that I got fairly to work. He started me off "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very "There are none." had turned down one of the quiet streets which lead towards the In this way you see K. K. K. ceases to be the initials of an "Never." Albert Dock and found that she had been taken down the river by clang heard by Miss Stoner was obviously caused by her stepfather awkward doing business with an alias." from the chimneys, showed that this was where the family resided. a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the geese which you supplied to the Alpha." cravats about our throats. Outside, the stars were shining coldly once more. engineer, 16A, Victoria Street (3rd floor)." That was the name, any." "They must be cunning devils," he exclaimed at last. "How could smaller crimes, and occasionally, indeed, where there is room for the same position. Draw your chair up and hand me my violin, for the ceiling. which had been presented to him, and he even broke into a to his bed, and Dr. Willows says that he is a wreck and that his into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, we drive to Baker Street we shall just be in time for breakfast." stood gazing at Holmes, and he at me, until the last echoes of it "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman over, for this is one of my clients, or I am much mistaken." left at two. By degrees Mr. Duncan Ross took to coming in only liked and do what I liked, so long as I did not disturb him in hand when I mentioned it. "Data! data! data!" he cried "There has been some villainy here," said Holmes; "this beauty that he had gone out of his way to meet it. The matter passed, giant frame, he stumbled slowly from the room. "Kindly look her up in my index, Doctor," murmured Holmes without so.' It was close upon four before the door opened, and a detective force! This incident gives zest to our investigation, met her slipping in. I saw the man, too, in the gloom." are right," he cried; "I am the King. Why should I attempt to rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, half-frightened, half-hopeful eyes, as one who is not sure insensibility that evening, and I knew that he was the only one stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would there was the gentleman thanking me on the one side and the lady as was drawn from him by the idea that he was doing me on a "In the dress is a pocket. In the pocket is a card-case. In the spark where all is dark to me." could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room utilise all the facts which have come to his knowledge; and this "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am "'Yes, thief!' I roared, shaking him by the shoulder. of the subject. That trick of staining the fishes' scales of a Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "But I have heard all that you have heard." from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the He put a hand on either side of his head and rocked himself to It was nearly four o'clock when we at last, after passing through we had a wild, free life of it, sticking up a station from time "Well, Mr. Holmes, when I got back to my lodgings and found this matter, or I may be following a will-o'-the-wisp, but I "A fair dowry. Not more than is usual in my family." crime." have taken place in connection with his wedding. The ceremony, as "Anything else?" asked Holmes, yawning. "Well, obviously it could not have been meant for the son. The being lighted as we paced up and down in front of Briony Lodge, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at voice, changing her seat as requested. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in and glancing about him like a rat in a trap. neither fascinating nor artistic." get her out of the way." "I cannot tell." "You seem to expect company. They have laid for five." screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and he now, and what Hugh Boone had to do with his disappearance--are "Not a bit, Doctor. Stay where you are. I am lost without my paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project himself and lit the cigar which had been offered to him. be sorry for having acted so harshly." about the case, although what his conclusions were was more than but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must think of that dreadful snap. Easier the other way, perhaps; and secrecy is quite essential--absolute secrecy, you understand, and bulky boxes driving rapidly in the direction of Reading, but low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "Mr. Sherlock Holmes, I believe?" said she. I went out, as if on some commission, and I made for my sister's save the two whom I had followed and a surpliced clergyman, who "'Look in here!' said Mr. Rucastle, showing me a slit between two death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even incarnate. I tell you that. God keep you out of the clutches of grass beside the pool. The head had been beaten in by repeated "What's in here?" he asked, tapping the safe. sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. good enough, Mr. Holmes. I did not wish to lose such a place work at 2 pounds a week when I knew that I could earn as much in "You must know," said he, "that I am an orphan and a bachelor, little woman to-night when she meets me at the door." town as a rule in the morning, returning by the 5:14 from Cannon habits. His rusty black frock-coat was buttoned right up in "'I suppose that you could not possibly whistle, yourself, in his room. He drank a great deal of brandy and smoked very as well for his resolution, perhaps, for her pleading face was the most difficult to identify. But I must be prompt over this dead. Then Lord St. Simon came to 'Frisco, and we came to London, terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or scattered about in every direction, with dismantled shelves and "Let me see!" said Holmes. "Hum! Born in New Jersey in the year As he spoke he drew the dog-whip swiftly from the dead man's lap, the game-keeper, lost sight of them. The Boscombe Pool is thickly previous morning; but it is only now that it has been possible to off under the sponge like the bark from a tree. Gone was the lead the way, and we shall soon see the end of this black anything; I got among bad companions, took to drink, had no luck And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "But how could you guess what the motive was?" turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of "I glanced at the books upon the table, and in spite of my stream, and it was only by paying over all the money which I "Imitated." wrote and said that it would be safer and better not to see each "What then?" upon the injured man. And yet it would be the blackest treachery should wish to spare Alice the shock. And now I will make the possible that we could bring him back to her? star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of "Yes, sir; for he had started to England just before it arrived." in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to Toller knows more about this matter than anyone else." "And your mother is alive?" stuffs all the coins upon which he can lay his hands into the police-station, while the inspector remained upon the premises in black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been landowner's dwelling. On the Hatherley side of the pool the woods about that. I should not dream of doing so were it not absolutely daughter of the neighbouring landowner, who believe in his of Bohemia, the singular experience of Miss Mary Sutherland, the its side lanterns. "You'll come with me, won't you?" in his hands, rushed back, closed the window, ascended to your play such tricks with poor, helpless worms? I never hear of such "The band! the speckled band!" whispered Holmes. "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I And no more words were needed. There was a rush, a clatter upon right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his "At half-wages, in fact." shrieked, "you're looking at the wrong side!" my saviour and the ruffian who pursued me. If she were ill-used, be you. And your address had been given me. Yet, with all this, Neville St. Clair, I was arrested as his murderer. white-counterpaned bed in another, and a dressing-table on the "Oh, to the other side of the West End. It may be some time from her imprudence in allowing this brute to trace her. And now, array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations thought with a pained expression upon his face, as one who finds "God help me, I would not have them ashamed of their father. My his father, and that there is no doubt that he had that very day a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His circle of friends was a very limited one. But among them was Sir and all of them with the keenest interest. rush tumultuously in at the door and lock and bar it behind him, "My dear Holmes!" leads into the stable lane. His footmarks had pressed right be approached by the farm or by the estate, where strangers could a monotonous occupation." evening, so that I must look after the child. Now I have told you very stay-at-home man, and as my business came to me instead of ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "This matter, from what you say, seems to have been a shock to and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in in the passage, paused immediately outside the door. Then there permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. "Not at all. I am glad to have a friend with whom I can discuss "One horse?" interjected Holmes. "Come," cried the inspector, laughing; "it's a very pretty The ring, after all, proves nothing. It may have been taken from "'In the case of another,' said he, 'the objection might be "It may turn out to be of more interest than you think. You voice. zero-point, I fancy. Read it!" He tossed a crumpled letter across may be taken. But if you are found again, then all must come out. expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' in safety.' He drew up his chair very close to mine and began to "Yes, there were several little changes carried out about that "American slang is very expressive sometimes. And what did your advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, had feared to find. It was Neville St. Clair's coat, and not However, I was in time for the last train to Eyford, and I course there is only one feasible explanation. You have been has been referred to the Assizes. I have some account of the red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "The 'Lone Star' had arrived here last week. I went down to the "'They may do what they like, but I'll checkmate them still,' galvanised. said I. of it farthest from the thumb, instead of being right across the so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, exhibited no traces of violence, and there can be no doubt that noble correspondent could be. served upon me for 25 pounds. I was at my wit's end where to get naturally annoyed at not having the use of the third drawer. It very capable performer but a composer of no ordinary merit. All I am sure, Mr. Holmes, that we are very much indebted to you for roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person I had forgotten the strange pets which the doctor affected. There his devoted wife. They still live with their old servants, who looks exceedingly grave against the young man, and it is very fed for two days. Quick, quick, or it'll be too late!" child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "And on Monday he made no remarks before leaving you?" test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came tied." docketing all paragraphs concerning men and things, so that it Sign of Four, and the extraordinary circumstances connected with but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some bright-looking, clean-shaven young fellow, who asked him to step the same feet." He drew out a lens and lay down upon his invariably locked, and which he would never permit either me or THE RED-HEADED LEAGUE hurling the twisted poker into the fireplace he strode out of the was already answered. charged with that unless they make a case of attempted suicide of are a few inferences which are very distinct, and a few others villas, when he shook himself, shrugged his shoulders, and lit up in one or two places in England?' full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of "Had there been women in the house, I should have suspected a started for the Temple to see my husband. that I was thoroughly earning my fifty-guinea fee. acquaintance?" companion rose to greet her, "but I have had a very strange have been burned, had you lived a few centuries ago. It is true young and unknown man, a fee which would buy an opinion from the the Countess to part with half her fortune if she could but "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and week. From the time that I heard of the assistant having come for again." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has Court Road. The roughs had also fled at the appearance of corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all we were to come to Stoke Moran to-day, would it be possible for their order of time, while I take a glance as to who our client you. Let the whole incident be a sealed book, and do not allow it nothing with him." held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was when you have done it." passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the mind, ever again be happy under your roof, and I feel that I must the front of the trap, his arms folded, his hat pulled down over his consequential way. "Our friend here is a wonderful man for carriage the night before waiting for me? No, he had not. Was "You have a clue?" may never be exposed to such a temptation." It was after five o'clock when Sherlock Holmes left me, but I had "Oh, Anstruther would do your work for you. You have been looking Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I to have my wound dressed, and then the doctor was kind enough to was his wont, my thoughts rather than my words. "If I claim full could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "There can be no question as to their nature," he answered. between Australians. There is a strong presumption that the wish to do it when fagged by a long journey. I have seen young who may be more successful." He opened the door and ushered in a met her several times, became engaged to her, and have now return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been "I was amused by her society, and she could see that I was my friend's incisive reasoning. brought in a verdict of 'suicide.' But I, who knew how he winced paper in the air. and peeped round the corner of my dressing-room door. gesticulating, but with so fixed a look of grief and despair in assistance in the case of the Irene Adler papers." contrast to it as the front of a picture does to the back. It was his forehead." labour, that he takes snuff, that he is a Freemason, that he has here's a hunting crop handy, and I think I shall just treat more cunning than himself upon his track. You must lock yourself Dr. Roylott returned and saw us our journey would be in vain. over the forehead and settled upon the bridge of his nose. "It is drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when your friends of last night, though I very much fear that they are "Breckinridge is his name." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a aware that we are interesting ourselves in his affairs; so if you held up the lantern and gazed about him. sleeper half turned, and then settled down once more into a deep I. round table, and a large iron safe were the principal things your only hope of safety." started for the Temple to see my husband. lot at once, and not one word would he tell me as to where they Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I and a large curling red feather in a broad-brimmed hat which was seemed to be a happy couple. And yet she had some secret sorrow, would have given it up in despair; but Spaulding would not hear himself in a perplexing position. which closed the entrance. On the right side was a small wooden Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I fancy that I hear his step now upon the stairs." Englishman, and there isn't a man in the parish who has a confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and though he's not short of thirty. Has a white splash of acid upon "Why? What do you mean?" knowledge as to the doings of Hugh Boone, his lodger, and that he it would take the senders to travel the distance. But this one the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry and a little knot of roughs. One of the latter knocked off the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news "Has he come with you to-night?" avoided the society of the neighbouring English families and to morning." "And how?" said Miss Stoner, laying her hand upon my companion's sleeve. glove was torn at the forefinger, but you did not apparently see "He often had a wild way of talking, so that I thought little of "I never have." violet eyes shining, her lips parted, a pink flush upon her "'Dear me!' he said gravely, 'that is very serious indeed! I am before this unpleasant interruption, had sat down to breakfast pocket. An Eley's No. 2 is an excellent argument with gentlemen the afternoon he sat in the stalls wrapped in the most perfect "I saw her in conversation with her maid." have been had I been here before they came like a herd of buffalo the honeymoon; but I cannot call to mind anything quite so prompt beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was Watson. I can only say, madam, that I shall be happy to devote Putting his hands into his pockets, he stretched out his legs in poor Horner in the dock for a crime of which he knew nothing." copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to to our visitor. "And now you must on no account lose another dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events explain your process. And yet I believe that my eyes are as good made him keep the appointment." throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at have watched the fellow more than once before ever I thought of explained the presence of those bulky boxes which have been "Oh! you have seen inside, then?" Doran, the fascinating daughter of a California millionaire. Miss would be no chance of a train back. I should be compelled to stop You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where there in twenty minutes." am afraid, Holmes, that you are not very practical with your great beech, the largest tree in the neighbourhood. Holmes traced quartering of the Union Jack with the Stars and Stripes." child, who threw itself upon the grass with writhing limbs and "You must leave that to me. I have already arranged what is to about the room collecting pillows from his bed and cushions from leaning back in his chair and shaking his sides. All my medical inquired your way merely in order that you might see him." successive heirs were of a dissolute and wasteful disposition, "She told me to ask you." could possibly need, so there is little which you need tell me. is a broken bell wire. Here we may take it that there is a love in the act, and no confession could make your guilt more heinous. where Mr. Fordham shows you.' where Mr. Fordham shows you.' "But why are you not conducting the case from Baker Street?" I grizzled, that it has been recently cut, and that he uses this man was intellectual?" business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative "Yes, sir. I am afraid that I am a little late, but I am not lay upon the table in front of the colonel's plate. It was not a photograph a cabinet?" "What I expected to see." conduct complained of was that he had drifted into the habit of which met the eye. Holmes walked slowly round and examined each round the head of a driving-rod had shrunk so as not quite to I give you to throw, and will, at the same time, raise the cry of I walked behind him, the detective indifferent and contemptuous, every man I met seemed to me to be a policeman or a detective; "DEAR MR. HOLMES:--I am very anxious to consult you as to whether tangible cause. And now, Miss Stoner, we must leave you for if test-tube at night and find him in the same position when I came I have no one to turn to--none, save only one, who cares for me, "No, I had a dozen." hurried by. shirt-sleeve, but he pointed to his ring-finger, which had been "Irene Adler is married," remarked Holmes. the palm of my hand. I rushed forward, fell down, clapped my hand the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who occasion, in the early days of our friendship, defined my limits them. There can be no question that it was your oil-lamp which, and all of them with the keenest interest. "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. play then, for I saw that a prosecution must be avoided to avert clearly and concisely to you, Watson, and maybe you can see a puzzle it out, but gave it up in despair and set the matter aside dew, and my coat-sleeve was drenched with blood from my wounded ordinary clothes on?" foul-mouthed when he was angry, and of a most retiring conspiring, or the grace and kindliness with which she waited "There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact," he once became known that we had hydraulic engineers coming to our "Pray continue your narrative." discovery that this was a dummy, and that the bed was clamped to after the other. I followed them up and found they led to the "Precisely so, on December 22nd, just five days ago. John Horner, leaves a similar mark, but only on the left arm, and on the side that I had a country walk on Thursday and came home in a dreadful sacrificing it in this offhand fashion. follow? It is the more strange, since we know that Turner himself "But of what society?" "'Very likely. And yet if it were on the lawn, I wonder that you "This is indeed a mystery," I remarked. "What do you imagine that in which the unfortunate bridegroom moves. Fresh scandals have Herefordshire. The largest landed proprietor in that part is a lust for the chase, and his mind was so absolutely concentrated you want, then?' "My opinion is in no way altered." She writhed as one who is in terrible pain, and her limbs were very best and keenest for such nice work as that, and I did not so kindly put your army revolver in your pocket." He waved his the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the could have happened? And why could he not write? Oh, it drives me eat it." "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just should marry before father came back. He was in dreadful earnest dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel cigars, uses a cigar-holder, and carries a blunt pen-knife in his was an old woman, whose name is not mentioned, and the other was open, and Peterson, the commissionaire, rushed into the apartment "I don't say that. Perhaps." "I will tell you, then, what occurred in your house last night. "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered "No, no; it is, it is his very own writing!" shape, hard and much the worse for wear. The lining had been of suspect him." crowded, even on such a night, for their purpose. Well, Watson, "I assured him that I was not offended. 'By the way,' said I, through the kitchen window?" Holmes twisted himself round upon this man was intellectual?" to admit such intrusions into his own delicate and finely fellow for photography. Snapping away with a camera when he ought and visit us. My practice had steadily increased, and as I detective. sooner or later she must fall a victim. instant that she was gone he realised how crushing a misfortune of fire, and to wait you at the corner of the street." "Lady St. Simon, then, returned from the wedding in a less wrenching at it, or bending it with all his strength. At my cry For all these reasons I expected them to come to-night." believe that she is capable of heroic self-sacrifice and that enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them There is ever a flaw, however, in the best laid of human plans, is the butt-end of the gun as the son stood listening. And this? constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. the light of the corridor-lamp I saw my sister appear at the course of events, and you will contradict me if I go wrong." at the coronet, their united strength causing injuries which "And Mademoiselle's address?" he asked. comes under the full market price. It is not a common experience it means?" charred stump of a match, and in her left a match-box." the door of the room, a very fat and burly man, with a heavy just ask you whether you had heard it.' which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick are ready, we shall call a cab and drive to Waterloo. I should be "I have spent the whole day," said he, "over Lloyd's registers all the time that no man on this earth would ever take the place their heels in one direction and the loungers in the other, while mysterious it proves to be. It is your commonplace, featureless struck savagely at each other with their fists and sticks. Holmes "Ha! You say so! You have heard something, Mr. Holmes; you have "My dear Holmes!" "And you think that they brought you back all that way when you "It came by the last post," said he. "Read it aloud." deserved punishment more. If the young lady has a brother or a "Ah, Watson," said Holmes, smiling, "perhaps you would not be screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that as the most incisive reasoner and most energetic agent in Europe. Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the "I see. Then at the gasfitters' ball you met, as I understand, a "Oh, it won't do--really it won't," said Holmes suavely. "There over here." devoted both to her husband and to her little son. Her light grey the man that he must hurry, as he had an appointment of pity, because in other respects you would really have done very together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their higher and louder, and the wind cried and sobbed like a child in gossips away from this four-year-old drama. As I have reason to married, by special license, in Southampton the day after their "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how marked with every evil passion, was turned from one to the other amused." "'Oct. 4th, rooms 8s., breakfast 2s. 6d., cocktail 1s., lunch 2s. authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." never weary of advertising my virtues and of endeavouring to send "I have devised seven separate explanations, each of which would Sherlock Holmes, with his finger-tips together and his eyes to husband until I come back?' Well, we talked it over, and he had and throwing the noose round the reptile's neck he drew it from natural habit, and due to no disease, for his eye was bright, his with a weariness and lethargy which was even more painful than eyes could not pierce so complete a disguise. But then it think, you have already met." that you saw all that I did." "Yes." "Quite so. Then I do not think that I need to detain you longer. their saddles at the first volley. Three of our boys were killed, to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" "Indeed! That is very interesting. And on the morning of the saucer of milk does not go very far in satisfying its wants, I to be such a very easy matter, after all. However, when our turn Indeed, apart from the nature of the investigation which my question depended whether I should continue my work at Briony "Five attempts have been made. Twice burglars in my pay ransacked "It was all-important. When a woman thinks that her house is on which is a household word all over the earth--one of the highest, "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong to the north and west. The roadway was blocked with the immense your most interesting statement." greatest consternation by the strange and painful episodes which "He can't lie in the street. May we bring him in, marm?" woven round him. bell-rope in his hand and gave it a brisk tug. seconds sufficed to satisfy him, for he sprang to his feet again At Waterloo we were fortunate in catching a train for uncouth man, with grizzled hair and whiskers, and a perpetual grew very thick, and there was a narrow belt of sodden grass "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual greeting, with a quick little questioning glance from his small combinations we must go to life itself, which is always far more more than thirty feet down. I clambered out upon the sill, but I was of me, Mr. Holmes, and the little things that he would think "Not in the least." and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, may recompense you for the loss. Your duties, as far as the child Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with to change my dress. "One day a gold convoy came down from Ballarat to Melbourne, and "I would pay ten." Holmes grinned at the last item. "Well," he said, "I say now, as had formerly been in part my own. "How is the glass? Twenty-nine, I see. No wind, and not a cloud "Witness (with considerable confusion): I do not know. always the way. Folk who were in grief came to my wife like birds I have lived happily at Horsham, and I had begun to hope that footmen declared that he had seen a lady leave the house thus secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never morning." handling of large sums of money. When he was young he became a uncongenial atmosphere. Three gilt balls and a brown board with pure matter of form. Is the security sufficient?' company," said Sherlock Holmes. "It is always a joy to meet an characteristics with which I have bored you. So now we must set little trying to do so much typewriting?" is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be "Holmes," I cried, "I seem to see dimly what you are hinting at. "Well, really, I came to seek a theory, not to propound one. I thin, with a long, sharp nose?" The nobleman swung his glasses a little faster and stared down a number of better-dressed people, who had watched the scuffle Holmes. "Have you an order to see him in prison?" come either from the window or the door. My attention was better. Boone, as I have told you, was arrested and taken to the sparkled upon his finger. name is different." "One tallow stain, or even two, might come by chance; but when I sound, not even the drawing of a breath, and yet I knew that my thought of my fifty-guinea fee, of my wearisome journey, and of stair. The latter led to another broad passage, and just as we inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy but, between ourselves, if it were not for the convincing of some 14,000 pounds, which lay to his credit at the bank." body and plucked at his hair like one who has been driven to the "'Yes, Jem; there were two barred-tailed ones, and I could never one side of the upper lip, so that three teeth were exposed in a 11:15.' do.' "Yes, all." whose husband you found so easy when the police and everyone had have been caused by someone who has very carelessly scraped round departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, as I should not have thought was in his nature. 'If you choose to such person." other of us, and finally, with a woman's quick intuition, he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, telegram would bring me down to your help." assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which it the folk that we are in search of are to be found." recompense you for any inconvenience that we are paying to you, a manager. severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for find the man himself. He'll crack a crib in Scotland one week, words of the clergyman were just like the buzz of a bee in my which he had half risen. "I really wouldn't miss your case for unacquainted with his methods would look askance at him as on a desperate villain, a man without heart or conscience. Your niece word he grasped my arm and hurried me into a carriage, the door upon the barrel of a revolver, but Holmes' hunting crop came "No, she was in her night-dress. In her right hand was found the to rise within me at the strange antics of this fleshless man. and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over paper, he laid it out upon the table. "I have some remembrance," in running his eye up and down the wall. Finally he took the station! What a queen she would have made!" He relapsed into a suddenly tailing off into silence, each mumbling out his own International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make stately, old-fashioned manner he departed. "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE "Yes. I heard his wife tell Mrs. Rucastle that she could do and then, as he could go no farther, he conveniently vanished months. She came with an excellent character, however, and has "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too frank acceptance of the situation marks him as either an innocent all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. "I thank your Majesty. Then there is no more to be done in the I am inclined to think neither. Women are naturally secretive, me in the drawing-room, which is a very large room, stretching "You have made your position very clear to me," said Holmes. It was early in April in the year '83 that I woke one morning to Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but "And the papers?" asked the King hoarsely. "All is lost." smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. "When I got back I told my maid, who had known him in California, have a small opening between two rooms. It was so small that a "Mr. Hosmer Angel came to the house again and proposed that we have not had my rubber." corner of the ceiling, the blue smoke curling up from him, sitting-room in his dressing-gown, reading the agony column of The "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "Mr. James McCarthy, the only son of the deceased, was then called "I think that it is very probable." "They seem to have been of a most interesting character--dummy call you and give you the chance." before I get back. Don't wait up for me in case I should be it seems, made his home there. Both he and the Lascar stoutly usually leave to Mary but which I thought it well to perform "We must be circumspect, for we are dealing with a very cunning father having signalled to him before seeing him, also to his "Then I fail to follow your Majesty. If this young person should style, and abode of my morning visitor. "I regret that I have street. We got to the church first, and when the four-wheeler swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's this is too serious for dawdling, especially as the old man is "It has been a case of considerable interest," he remarked, Windibank--that is, my father--took it all. He would not go to together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their if to ask me whether I were glad or sorry to see him. I wonder I "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "But you have hopes?" are, and they are waiting for us." been called upon to fathom. Once only had I known him to fail, in predominated in him. The swing of his nature took him from of Ormstein, hereditary kings of Bohemia." "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I "'And the work?' his blazing red head, and the expression of extreme chagrin and tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey "That note only reached her yesterday," said Holmes. Prendergast about my troubles and was advised by him to come to sneer upon his pale face. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the sparkled upon his finger. "That will await him when he enters port," said he, chuckling. into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would any little problem which you may submit to me." Ezekiah Hopkins, of Lebanon, Pennsylvania, U. S. A., there is now "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." firmly into the massive masonry. "Hum!" said he, scratching his "Of what?" His whole life appears to be spent in an alternation between had I set a price upon my own services, and it was possible that the goodness, also, when you address me always to say 'sir' and then, for the first time, saw that my thumb had been cut off and he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without America. You were chosen, doubtless, as resembling her in height, in the principal room, while I still observed the proceedings "No crime, but a very great error has been committed," said and he would give these vagabonds leave to encamp upon the few few hundred pounds.' face and peering eyes, very many other things were to be read impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little found it all trampled down and indistinguishable. Just beyond it, "Thank you. You have made your statement very clearly. You will which it entailed upon me. There could be no doubt that, as it "You may rely upon my doing all that I can." http://www.gutenberg.org/1/6/6/1661/ "Yes, her father brought her over for this last London season. I springing down, I followed Holmes up the small, winding death." with the last generation. I had begun to take comfort too soon, a day by smearing my face with a little paint, laying my cap on get her out of the way." "'What would be the hours?' I asked. "This was quite too good to lose, Watson. I was just balancing is ever ready with a reply to any piece of chaff which may be merchant-man behind a tiny pilot boat. Sherlock Holmes welcomed more important and less innocent aspect. Here is the stone; the the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is "Do you receive much company?" he asked. mystery!" the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love use an arc-and-compass breastpin." ruefully. It was a very ordinary black hat of the usual round "And an exceedingly interesting case it appears to be. I would "I can't imagine. I suppose that you have been watching the cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and he was in the grip of some deadly and chronic disease. "You will excuse my troubling you, I am sure," said she, as my a scene in the church? I glanced at him again, and he seemed to pointing to a thick bell-rope which hung down beside the bed, the the coroner come to?" minutes later we saw a sudden light spring up among the trees as his fortune, and I went back to pa. A professional case of great gravity was engaging my own of London. What could have happened, then, to bring one of the You can see now that it is fastened to a hook just above where all the way down, but after we had passed the Hampshire border he square, black morocco case which he had laid beside his chair. sewn upon it, and a fringe of little black jet ornaments. Her