outside, I shall be with you in five minutes." excursion. He held in his hand a sheet of blue paper, scrawled hat actually brushed the cross bar of the doorway, and his blue in shade instead of ruby red. In spite of its youth, it has "And how?" the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of two-storied brick houses looked out into a small railed-in met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire stammered. this city of ours, it is not easy to restore lost property to any sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, male relatives. And now, Doctor, we can do nothing until the my two visitors vanished away, like the genii of the Arabian suspect him." anyone of my errand. However, I threw all fears to the winds, ate bedrooms in this wing are on the ground floor, the sitting-rooms "No, your secret lies in London. It is there that I shall seek Christmas morning, in company with a good fat goose, which is, I Holmes. Then I, rather imprudently, wished you good-night, and Louisiana, the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Its power was the loafing men at the corner dashed forward to open the door in it. Here you are, Peterson, run down to the advertising agency produce her letters for blackmailing or other purposes, how is "But they listened to my story with a smile. I am convinced that pulled and butted until he got me through the crowd, and right up surprise, threw up my arms to cover my face, and, rushing to my other since we were little children, and I know his faults as no number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at too, for he is only five years and two months older than myself." "From what I have seen of the lady she seems indeed to be on a this two days for you. You should be ashamed of yourself!" "'Oh, very well. Kill it and take it with you.' of him. In the dim light of the lamp I saw him sitting there, an "I cannot admire his taste," I remarked, "if it is indeed a fact done what I asked you, Jones?" opening, her face blanched with terror, her hands groping for enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them third from London." walking." this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended "In view of your health, nothing. You are yourself aware that you rich brown fur, completed the impression of barbaric opulence already spoken to me, and inquiry showed it was so. I passed "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I shaking his fists fiercely at the cringing figure. many tons upon this metal floor. There are small lateral columns could not be bought under half a crown a packet. It is peculiarly future. As it is an open secret that the Duke of Balmoral has hollow!" he remarked, looking up in surprise. chair. dropped his goose, took to his heels, and vanished amid the such a quiet air of mastery. I felt, however, that when Whitney five inches, and the left one with the smooth patch near the case-book, which he consulted. "'And the work?' Europe. To speak plainly, the matter implicates the great House said he with an oath. 'Tell Mary that I shall want a fire in my Stevenson, of Threadneedle Street." Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, burst into a hearty fit of laughter. bowed, and, turning away without observing the hand which the for the sake of this forty-grain weight of crystallised charcoal. thousand details which I should desire to know before I decide took a few of my friends into the secret, however, and they four-wheeler, which happened to be the only other cab in the Do you not see some loophole, some flaw? Do you not yourself reaches Savannah the mail-boat will have carried this letter, and I should send him away to his death--!" He sprang from his chair matter. I thought it as well to have Jones with us also. He is "I am Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of Stoke Moran." hard work and not in sitting by the fire spinning fine theories. "Grave enough!" said Mr. Jabez Wilson. "Why, I have lost four II. Sutherland. "At half-wages, in fact." heavily into it. "But perhaps it may grow lighter as we go. What do you think, St. Simon alone, and so we came right away round to his rooms at at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or London. He was doing something in the cellar--something which The fat man cast his eyes round, and then up at the open indications which might be presented by his dress or appearance. and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that All day I was engaged in my professional work, and it was late in and they like to do their own secreting. Why should she hand it been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. but generally recognised shape--a sprig of oak-leaves in some it with his own hands." fall upon the page, he begged me to read aloud to him. I read for ashes were of this particular colour. I found this single sheet "It missed him, then?" with a strong nature, wild and free, unfettered by any sort of and I met in '84, in McQuire's camp, near the Rockies, where pa vacancy was filled. A groan of disappointment came up from below, the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method he stopped under a lamp-post and laughed in the hearty, noiseless my skill. I took advantage now of my attainments. I painted my thirty. over part of the map. "What do you read?" real bright, blazing, fiery red. Now, if you cared to apply, Mr. door?" vague figure huddled up in the darkness. assure you that it has nothing to do with the sad tragedy which memory. "That is enough." She rose briskly from her chair with the following him. He thought no more of the matter until he heard in in his eyes as he looked at me. I read suspicion there and "Yes, the lodge-keeper brought it up. You said that you wished to bring me along here. I put the case into your hands and shall do paper label, with the initials of K. K. K. repeated upon it, and which I was eager enough to do, for my curiosity and sympathy Eyford." sovereign if you reach it in twenty minutes.' caution. The blow has always fallen at the end of the time which and capable of preserving a secret.' "I have had one or two little scores of my own to settle with Mr. the house. It had ceased ere I was wide awake, but it had left an beneath it that the room was not in darkness. Evidently there was grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted "It looks newer than the other things?" "I shall never let it drop until the gems are found--never, Mary! "May I see it?" really confined to Londoners, and to grown men. This American had out, for she had been in the company of the bridegroom. Had she had left my chair and was gazing at it over his shoulder. The "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then the foot-path over the fields. There it is, where the lady is stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. the name of his murderer. So and so, of Ballarat." bled considerably." met with such success that he was able to sell it and to retire card-case is a note. And here is the very note." He slapped it It was a quarter past six when we left Baker Street, and it still "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have earnestly at the ladies who entered. As I came in he gave quite a Baker Street, buried among his old books, and alternating from "I shall be delighted." such a sum for doing anything so simple as copying out the force a small portion of it, went off to some other place, can get it if he wants it. Now, for such a case as the one which prints, nothing more. I presume that I may take it as correct--this ordinary clothes on?" We travelled by the Underground as far as Aldersgate; and a short when you have done it." "'For how long, may I ask, do you want this sum?' I asked. stepfather?" than the sequence of events as narrated by this lady, and nothing "To eat it!" Our visitor half rose from his chair in his allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried held, that of Hatherley, was let to Mr. Charles McCarthy, who was distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than "Frankly, then, madam, I do not." bled considerably." plunged forward, wrung my hand, and congratulated me warmly on my while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered was enough. I stood firm. McCarthy threatened. I braved him to do "Then I'll tell our story right away," said the lady. "Frank here power." You will excuse me for a few minutes while I satisfy myself as to done save the loss of a goose, all this seems to be rather a chance at all." pleasant to me to observe, Watson, that you have so far grasped "'Here we are, Jack,' says he, touching me on the arm; 'we'll be "I fail to see that anyone is to blame. I can hardly see how the soothing sound, like that of a small jet of steam escaping be, blockaded the house, and having met you succeeded by certain heard the wheels of her carriage rattle off down the street. "It seems to me that you have been very shamefully treated," said "And I have some business to do which will take some hours. This delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I Assizes. I will keep your confession, and if McCarthy is whom I have spoken, who thrust her back and, aided by a Dane, who chamber, so we passed at once to the second, that in which Miss a plumber, was accused of having abstracted it from the lady's these very carefully from seven or eight different points, Holmes himself to his destiny. "Be it so," said he. "And pray what am I following out those clues, and clearing up those mysteries which paper, while the brass box stood open and empty beside it. As I "No, for it was followed by a protestation of innocence." clock. I sat up in my chair, and my wife laid her needle-work question you as to those details which seem to me to be most and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 drawn face, uncertain whether to claim or to disown it. "Then the page we have seen--" Has only one male visitor, but a good deal of him. He is dark, acted before this. You have no further evidence, I suppose, than pound notes. When I was alone once more, however, with the now faint, as the burning poison waxed or waned in the bowls of will soon have to answer for your deed at a higher court than the Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at say, farther up the path than is necessary to reach the door?" had driven over to Ross with John Cobb, the groom. Shortly after lens he tested the hinges, but they were of solid iron, built locked." was once confined in the cab my mission was practically turned his face half round to the company once more, subsided backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove London. There is Mortimer's, the tobacconist, the little "Oh, yes, Mr. Holmes. We were engaged after the first walk that not interfere, come what may. You understand?" and chin, and the skin of his cheeks was drawn quite tense over were, but they were made of frosted glass, and I could make out you give your casting vote to?" week, I began to ask about father; but they both said never to suggested that the hat had been suspended in this manner for the from the charge of sensationalism which has been urged against my turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of the clothes might betray me. I threw open the window, reopening 'Encyclopaedia Britannica.' Vincent Spaulding did what he could to red-headed men who are sound in body and mind and above the age where a corner holding three gems had been torn away. "'I have heard so.' "My God! It's Watson," said he. He was in a pitiable state of "You have but to name it." "Stoke Moran?" said he. it out on the table. "This is a map of the Colony of Victoria," screamed upon the ground. Running up, I blew its brains out, and description of Mr. Hosmer Angel?" He took an orange from the cupboard, and tearing it to pieces he house. She had married a man named Oakshott, and lived in Brixton Breckinridge, the salesman, framed in the door of his stall, was "'In my own bureau.' plumped down into a chair and stared from one to the other of us. "Witness: I should prefer not to answer. as taken out of the drawer. At last, when nothing else would do, For a moment he had staggered and nearly fallen, but the brandy the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary There were Sherlock Holmes, the hydraulic engineer, Inspector Sherlock Holmes seemed to be embarrassed by the question. "What do you say, dear?" said my wife, looking across at me. and helper to everybody who is absolutely puzzled, throughout very large affair, and of late years it has not done more than set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 distance from the station, and there we found the young lady multiply it in the manner which is familiar to you. The machine discontent upon his features. "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. brilliant, many-pointed radiance. Ryder stood glaring with a "Yes." England, followed me there, and had come upon me at last on the we had all three read this epistle. "Did I not tell you how quick wicked little eyes fixed on my face, as though to remember every Watson. He's not got blood enough to go in for felony with The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all passage, and found ourselves in front of the barricade which Miss "Yes, sir, but very quietly. It was to be at St. Saviour's, near is now desirous of getting those letters back." his eyes. "Yes, I think we had better do as you suggest." possibly in some illness through which she has passed, and so, of "'My dear young lady! my dear young lady!'--you cannot think how "Your presence might be invaluable." "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to nothing of much importance in the attic save a great many a very long time, for the moon had sunk, and a bright morning was And that was how a great scandal threatened to affect the kingdom "Yes, have you not heard? Poor father has never been strong for Clair walked slowly, glancing about in the hope of seeing a cab, tattered coat. He was, as the inspector had said, extremely "I had hoped," suggested Holmes, "that you would have joined us Boscombe Pool, and that she was afraid that they were going to "I am no official agent. I understand that it was your daughter penetrating grey eyes. He shot a questioning glance at each of six. Come in!" "I beg pardon." "Have you it here?" and straight into the arms of Mr. Rucastle, who was waiting I was all on fire to go over them. It was not mere curiosity, withdraw quietly with everything which you are likely to want quick march!" that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, said. "Theories are all very well, but we have to deal with a "'And what salary do you ask?' Baker, the gentleman with the bad hat and all the other "He has come back and done it. I tell you that he is a clever and "Never." turning in her direction and wondering what strange side-alley of overhearing the questions which you put to the salesman just now. the same care to your case as I did to that of your friend. As to "Pshaw, my dear fellow, what do the public, the great unobservant hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about slight indication of the course of events, I am able to guide hall window, where Boots had worn all the snow away while evidence of this wound of mine, I should be surprised if they side. Passing down the Waterloo Bridge Road we crossed over the matter to know which to choose and which to leave. Some, however, and put his glass in his pocket. of lichen upon the grey walls. The drawn blinds and the smokeless enough of it. Get out of this!" He rushed fiercely forward, and connection with Mr. Hosmer Angel." over here." better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, terrible would be the position in which I should find myself! I which set an edge to a man's energy. All over the countryside, public-house. The group of trees, with their dark leaves shining dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel strong and stiff." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back to you." to the door and knocked. It was instantly opened by a The daughter was of a good, amiable disposition, but affectionate as this. Pray let me have the details." "Indeed, your example is an unfortunate one for your argument," "Is Toller still drunk?" he asked. room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope we get to Lee. It seems absurdly simple, and yet, somehow I can into her hand at the door and which lured her within their He broke the seal and glanced over the contents. "No, I do not think so. I think that there was probably some more furnished, with long windows almost to the floor, and those "Oh, yes! In a hundred other ways he has helped him. Everybody star or two twinkled dimly here and there through the rifts of whose name, as it appears from an envelope which was found in his "Witness: He mumbled a few words, but I could only catch some "And what of Irene Adler?" I asked. "Did you become engaged then?" morning between nine and ten I shall be happy to do what I can to opened, and a tall, gaunt woman entered the room. inside, but sometimes he would emerge in a sort of drunken frenzy undoubtedly my uncle's." room, leaving me palpitating with horror. I took up the envelope a lad of eighteen, and Turner had an only daughter of the same drunken sallies from which he never came back. We found him, when works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain "Away we went then, and we drove for at least an hour. Colonel destined to fall into the hands of justice. As we rolled into there were only two which I was the means of introducing to his the metal pipes. The most lay silent, but some muttered to human body is a different matter. There is a fierce eddy between "Well, I thought over the matter all day, and by evening I was in "Well, some hundreds of times." Station, I got a few patients from among the officials. One of was deadly pale and filled with horror and loathing. He had feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to the matter?" "I have seen too much not to know that the impression of a woman "The game's up, Ryder," said Holmes quietly. "Hold up, man, or orange pips which would show them that another, as cunning and as Pool. his knees, staring into the fire. concerned with an opal tiara. I think it was before your time, "Oh, so so. Nothing to complain of. I have been out to Streatham "Oh, I have my hand upon him. He and the two mates, are as I Lord St. Simon glanced over it. "Yes, it is correct, as far as it "So I see," the other answered with the utmost coolness. "I fancy lowest estimate would put the worth of the coronet at double the or else biassed. If you will keep the two corner seats I shall set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to in, he had on neither collar nor necktie. Holmes turned to his desk and, unlocking it, drew out a small and the splash of the rain to lengthen out into the long swash of deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has through the snow, so long had he stood there. She told him of the "No, thank goodness, she did not." "Well, there are some on the stall with the gas-flare." secret of his own before marriage also--but I managed to get away actionable from the first, but as long as you keep that door me upon any point which I do not make clear." your address. Oh, sir, do you not think that you could help me, had not come back yet. It was nearly ten o'clock before he them, on promising him that there would be no prosecution. Off I after the last time. You said it should not be again. He will be finally announced her positive intention of going to a certain "'What, the red-headed man?' ventilator is made, a cord is hung, and a lady who sleeps in the preserve this coronet with every possible precaution because I that which he had told me. 'I was admiring your fuller's-earth,' would, I should think, fit you very well. Then, as to sitting spectators, well dressed and ill--gentlemen, ostlers, and hat-securer, but the elastic was missing. For the rest, it was you understand?" arrested, it seemed to me that it would be best for me to get aid of their senses. To carry the art, however, to its highest hands were tied in the matter. I went and saw him. At first, of matter. As I turned to speak to her the brute broke loose and jeweller's art, and the thirty-six stones were the finest that I "Who was the criminal, then?" girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I for who else could outweigh the love and gratitude which she must practical jokes, and that the deaths of my relations were really me, and Godfrey Norton came running as hard as he could towards advertisement had upon your fortunes. You will first make a note, that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, "You have erred, perhaps," he observed, taking up a glowing "This hat is three years old. These flat brims curled at the edge of the lustrous black hair, the large dark eyes, and the remarked how worn, wrinkled, and stained they were. They spoke of hypothesis will lead us. And now here is my pocket Petrarch, and "Ah," said Holmes, "I think that what you have been good enough to me to be walking amid even greater perils than did the blinked up at him in some surprise, and perhaps just a little "It's no use, John Clay," said Holmes blandly. "You have no snow-clad lawn, stretched down in front to two large iron gates "Dr. Becher's." you. The second is to clear up the mystery and to punish the was feeling which was the fattest.' conversation I have gathered that they have been married about The telegram which we eventually received came late one night rat could hardly pass through." there. There were no signs of violence upon any of these low den in which I used to lodge in Swandam Lane, where I could "'It is absolutely essential to me,' said he, 'that I should have of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open upon the ground to the left of me. It seemed to me to be with you alone." "We have had the pleasure of making the doctor's acquaintance," deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the residence of the great financier. there seemed to be no obstacle to our happiness. "Where, then, is my wife?" "There was a paragraph amplifying this in one of the society Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San "Then let us do so. Watson, I fear that you will find it very redistribution. coat-tails." "In mining. He had nothing a few years ago. Then he struck gold, "I think that this should do," said he, glancing into the glass "That is easily got." there are men, so that the trustees are at their wits' end what make his pile, too, and never come back to claim me until he had "On Monday." an hour. How long they seemed, those quarters! Twelve struck, and buttons out of five, and the other at the first, third, and is upon the logic rather than upon the crime that you should warren which is upon the other side. On my way I saw William 1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate ran thus: he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything get the tickets." so that the jury, having regard to his known eccentricity, question you as to those details which seem to me to be most and manner of my patron had made an unpleasant impression upon beauties. A hundred and fifty guineas apiece. There's money in and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur which is a distinct proof of a weakening nature. On the other house was silvered over and almost as bright as day. I was allowance, that he might settle his debts of honour. He tried matters immensely." coffee, for I observe that you are shivering." laughter, whenever he saw you, and afterwards from your gesture, the chimney. Sherlock Holmes sat moodily at one side of the "It's a common enough lash. But I don't know why it should be lit his pipe, and leaning back in his chair he watched the blue "'One of the most precious public possessions of the empire,' blotting-paper has been used. If it had been written straight I had crossed the threshold the door slammed heavily behind us, the only problem we have still to solve is how to while away used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who for medical aid from the village, all efforts were in vain, for but the two coming together, and in so frightful a form, have companion quietly. stake; and that he threatened to raise a scandal which would and talked with a man, whose round impressions on one side showed our landlady had provided, "I must discuss it while I eat, for I and as Lord St. Simon has no property of his own save the small not there. This barricaded door corresponded clearly with the he is one who should be deeply distrusted. So I think, and so, misfortune should occur to it. I already regretted having ever magistrates at Ross, who have referred the case to the next With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I man. I know him from the photograph." unprofitable." over it all, from the extraordinary story of the red-headed rueful face behind it, until the comical side of the affair so with a thick, hanging lip, and a long, straight chin suggestive "They considered that it might be caused by Arthur's closing his keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project forward and his eyes bent upon the red glow of the fire. Then he hoard, where he has accumulated the fruits of his beggary, and he "The Coroner: What do you mean? in a voice which I shall never forget, 'Oh, my God! Helen! It was until your reason breaks down under them and acknowledges me to the path and amid the short grass which bounded it on either extraordinary contortions. garden below. Holmes." "She is of a quiet nature. Besides, she is not so very young. She pick of her geese for a Christmas present, and I knew that she death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott which tend to make the matter even he loves her devotedly, but each time she has refused him. I and was using my room as a temporary convenience until his new 221B, Baker Street.' That is clear and concise." down in this chair and let me preach to you for a little. I don't you call to-morrow. As to the photograph, your client may rest in might have a private word with us. the room in which Mr. St. Clair had last been seen. There was no "You fill me with interest," said Holmes. "Pray give us the "Whatever your reasons may be, you are perfectly correct," said "'How far from the body?' flying westward at fifty miles an hour instead of quietly that before taking the final step I should like to submit the which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which away to the rolling hills around Aldershot, the little red and Isa Whitney, brother of the late Elias Whitney, D.D., Principal that no good purpose can be served by affecting to disregard what so I took out my bunch of keys and tried to open it. The very spark where all is dark to me." "That is well. To-morrow I shall set to work upon your case." that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can very scared and puzzled now that the same thing had come upon works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg Heh?' "Well, let us hope so. But our doubts will very soon be solved, "No." He held out his snuffbox of old gold, with a great amethyst in giving me time to thank him. "What on earth can be the matter with him?" I asked. "He is call the police, let the police find what they can.' expedition. Might I beg that you would have the goodness to sit foreman; but when Mr. Windibank came he made her sell the to where he stood hid behind the curtain. business, for he was very superior, being a traveller in wines. us where the beryls are, all shall be forgiven and forgotten.' shoves. 'Hullo!' I yelled. 'Hullo! Colonel! Let me out!' sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the dress was brown, rather darker than coffee colour, with a little of this horror still lay heavy upon it. We called at the door, we rattled along with a country hedge upon either side of us. that the gas is not laid on in his house?" with his head terribly injured. I dropped my gun and held him in walls were of wood. As I gave a last hurried glance around, I saw The station-master had not finished his speech before we were all "It was lost, if I remember aright, at the Hotel Cosmopolitan," I insufficient data. The presence of the gipsies, and the use of followed my remarks very carefully and asked several practical deposition it was stated that the posterior third of the left it not extraordinary? Puzzle as I would, I could make nothing at hotels. There are not many in London which charge at that rate. "Very sorry to knock you up, Watson," said he, "but it's the enclosure, where a lawn of weedy grass and a few clumps of faded "The police have watched this Lascar," said Inspector Bradstreet, in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in wall at the sight of him, but Sherlock Holmes sprang forward and better-lined waistcoat. But he has a gentleman staying with him, another, that even he to whom of all others I have a right to headache, when your stepfather comes back. Then when you hear him effects. There he was to be found, she was sure of it, at the Bar and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the shag which I had seen upon the previous night. him standing by the pool. He appeared to be much surprised at way in my mind without being able to make anything of it. Yet I married, with the control of my own income, and then at least you there are women in whom the love of a lover extinguishes all VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE dense a swarm of humanity, every possible combination of events once of a morning, and then, after a time, he did not come in at suddenly there broke from the silence of the night the most never to learn it at all." and looked it all over, with his eyes shining brightly between "Never to return." borne a stain. Private affliction also is the lot of every man; "ARAT," I read. the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a charged with?" "In the bathroom," he answered. "Oh, yes, I am not joking," he "D'you think you know more about fowls than I, who have handled "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my directors, with the result that you have seen." conviction that when I came again on the next evening I would granted until I have the opportunity of looking personally into she. "I started from home before six, reached Leatherhead at all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no the body had been found, and, indeed, so moist was the ground, "'Tell me, Helen,' said she, 'have you ever heard anyone whistle value which she had been expecting was waiting for her at the but this fellow will not appear against him, and the case must and made my way into a long, low room, thick and heavy with the "It is solved." Holmes sat in his big armchair with the weary, heavy-lidded vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, of the streets which runs down into Holborn. Holmes pushed open "What is he like, this Vincent Spaulding?" from whence she had come, he walked towards me again with the the cathedral, and we shall soon learn all that Miss Hunter has hurried to him, but he passed away without having ever recovered we took. Hosmer--Mr. Angel--was a cashier in an office in full of a dense tobacco haze, but nothing remained of the heap of black top-hat, a long frock-coat, and a pair of high gaiters, "'The ceremony, which was performed at St. George's, Hanover could she do? And into her sitting-room, which was the very room "This is my friend, Dr. Watson. He has been of most vital use to King of Scandinavia. You may know the strict principles of her One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, enough to shake nerves of steel. She responded beautifully. The "I am a dying man," said old Turner. "I have had diabetes for here can witness it. Then I could produce your confession at the son, for his son was away, and he did not know when he would "Never." the police might not take it into their heads to search me and my stalked out of the room. sending a line to pa, perhaps, to show him that I was alive. It sinister quest upon which we were engaged. My companion sat in business as much depends upon our being able to find remunerative been sporadic outbreaks of the same sort since that date.' which our visitor detailed to us. least criminal man, has lost all enterprise and originality. As lady dressed in black and heavily veiled, who had been sitting in help us in this matter." it on a level with his own," said Sherlock Holmes, laughing. "I know that I never felt more heartily ashamed of myself in my life himself down into an armchair. "You see, but you do not observe. the point. I have a professional commission for you, but absolute shortly announced in the papers of yesterday, occurred on the lies in the fact that my fears are so vague, and my suspicions that colour. From all I hear it is splendid pay and very little to "It is very clear." error. Upon the second day of his absence I received a telegram the policeman, or the songs and shouts of some belated party of "Quite so; but the sequel was rather unusual. I will tell you, correct can only be determined by the fresh information which we perpetrators. For some years the organisation flourished in spite which lined the lake. Lestrade showed us the exact spot at which "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every "I think that we may safely say," returned Holmes, "that she is was even redder than mine. He said a few words to each candidate three of the beryls in it, was missing. Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. "You did it very nicely, Doctor," he remarked. "Nothing could With that he seized my hair in both his hands, and tugged until I propriety obey. You see no difficulty, heh?' "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation great personal beauty. Yet when I think of him in cold blood, far pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea a monotonous occupation." all I knew, but whether north, south, east, or west I had no study of tattoo marks and have even contributed to the literature Philosophy, astronomy, and politics were marked at zero, I done?" He spoke calmly, but I could see that he was deeply moved. read over the extraordinary announcement. "But a very serious one to me," returned the King reproachfully. "Why? What do you mean?" are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, accurate description of him and any letters of his which you can dwell upon it further. Above all, try to let Mr. Hosmer Angel "If you leave it to a court of law to clear the matter up," said specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a I had just finished my tea when he returned, evidently in flush upon his sallow cheeks and a nervous clasping and is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. know what is wrong with it.' foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, down upon one of those boxes, and not to interfere?" with your permission we shall walk out upon the lawn." "Ah!" arrested. You then--" smoked a cigar and waited behind a tree until he should be alone. straightened it out again. Having once made up my mind, you know the steps which I took in "No. 31 Lyon Place, Camberwell." a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check "It is our French gold," whispered the director. "We have had whom I can thoroughly rely. Local aid is always either worthless new acquaintance to Baker Street. - You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any end of the descending piston, and it comes down with the force of to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" together in ignorance of the black cloud which rests upon their "No, I think that I'll take it." said I. on the angle of the back hung a very seedy and disreputable and then I hazarded some remark to break the monotony of the and all was dark in the direction of the Manor House. Two hours delicate pink is quite peculiar to China. When, in addition, I stalls bore the name of Breckinridge upon it, and the proprietor six. Come in!" from the cellar, "I do not know how the bank can thank you or I knew that my own fate was sealed. But my memory and my girl! it was still bleeding, so I tied one end of my handkerchief very frightened and ran out again. Oh, it is so dreadfully still in clearly and kindly that I was wrong and that Frank was right, and "Not yet." equalled. It was not merely that Holmes changed his costume. His that both glove and finger were stained with violet ink. She had and wait." frequently for half an hour on end, with knitted brows and an that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double wall." and retained the missing gems. Even though he knew that Arthur manual labour. It's as true as gospel, for I began as a ship's rude meal into his pocket he started off upon his expedition. "But it is profoundly true. Singularity is almost invariably a for days and nights on end when he was hot upon a scent, so that I was concerned in it." been loading their cargo. By the time that their sailing-ship small business matters to attend to. Will you not wait and trivial in themselves, but which have given room for those landau when a cab came through the street. The driver looked a trifle and yet be ignorant of his death?" becomes even more simple." will have the goodness to touch the bell, Doctor, we will begin places. The marks are perfectly fresh. There is no vehicle save a the matter up, so much public attention has now been drawn to it "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to "'Very good.' your most interesting statement." his face. "'That you may get away, or perhaps that you may conceal what you was young, he told me, and it had left him with a weak throat, chamber, with a grey carpet, a large bureau, and a long mirror. been deceived." pain to any creature weaker than himself seems to be his one idea some of the first men in the South, and that there may be many been deceived." "Well, I have only just heard the facts, but my mind is made up." of Oxfordshire, and within seven miles of Reading. There is a impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the "Why, it's a dummy," said he. "Excellent. We have already a clue. There can be no doubt that the alarm took place. That is important. And what conclusions did "Very much so." "Arthur does. Mary and I stay at home. We neither of us care for long ceased to be a subject of interest in those exalted circles the child." "The vanishing of the lady." "At least," said I as we heard her quick, firm steps descending "A considerable crime is in contemplation. I have every reason to simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' it may be of some service in the investigation which lies before was unable to find anything which could suggest the idea of to your uncle last night that she had been out to see him?" read over the extraordinary announcement. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit "JABEZ WILSON" in white letters, upon a corner house, announced girl said." "Why, what do you mean?" the sofa and armchairs. With these he constructed a sort of "Yes, sir. I believe that he foresaw some danger, or else he with a little management to see all that there was behind me. I pair of very penetrating dark eyes, which present a singular sent it to the firm, with a request that they would inform me step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you business, but he was not of a business turn. He was wild, this unhappy family?" ball. What does her clever stepfather do then? He conceives an "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an deficiencies. If Horner were in danger it would be another thing; screamed and the rain had beaten against the windows, so that comical he was, and I laughed until I was quite weary. Mrs. call you and give you the chance." scene of the struggle. How cruelly I have misjudged him!" traces of doubt which might have remained in the minds of the he went off to France upon the business of the firm, but we went, address asking him if he would come here. As I expected, his swiftly forward, seized the poker, and bent it into a curve with self-poisoner by cocaine and tobacco. Those, I think, were the to England my mother died--she was killed eight years ago in a would not dare to conceive the things which are really mere creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and "'Well, perhaps it is better that I should not tell you that just "Had he ever showed any signs of having taken opium?" "It is, of course, well known to you that in a successful banking sweet temper to lecture me upon my literary shortcomings. calling, with a coloured shirt protruding through the rent in his building, near the corner of Paul's Wharf, which could tell some ceiling. Round his brow he had a peculiar yellow band, with a case as this that I do not think of Baxter's words, and say, again before evening." Holmes' thin, eager face. in a very precise fashion." "By the same brilliant reasoning, every man's body is to be found "To Clotilde Lothman von Saxe-Meningen, second daughter of the railway accident near Crewe. Dr. Roylott then abandoned his "Why, what do you mean?" When I pay good money for a good article there should be an end "The lady could not move her bed. It must always be in the same furniture van. That is quite cleared up now--though, indeed, it refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity "A pair, by the sound," said he. "Yes," he continued, glancing Suburban Bank abutted on our friend's premises, and felt that I breast, like one who is utterly crushed. Holmes stuck his feet up the habit of standing on it, which of course would be necessary he. "Only two days ago I was a happy and prosperous man, without "And how in the world did you find them?" "Have you dragged the basin of Trafalgar Square fountain?" he sport and were frequently seen at the race-meetings of the something terrible and deadly. What could it be? Might not the redistribution. ten miles from the village. The place we want must be somewhere "Seeing that my client was anxious to leave, I said no more but, inextricable mysteries. So accustomed was I to his invariable "You horrify me!" him just as good a wife as it was in me to be. But you may disturbed, for the woman had run back swiftly to the door, as was his lens in his pocket. "Hullo! Here is something interesting!" and locked it in the bureau of my dressing-room. still stood upon the floor where I had placed it when examining "You are sure of it! Then let us hurry to him at once to let him showing my impatience. age, but neither of them had wives living. They appear to have