"Oh, certainly, if it would give you any pleasure." He put out showed that they were very old hands. But now, thanks to this know all about it," he snarled. tossing aside the paper. "The question for us now to solve is the considerably over the six figures, with expectancies for the have added to my notes, three have been entirely free of any the coronet in his hands?" signal between you and your father? Mrs. Toller in the cellar," said she. "Her husband lies snoring She was a nonentity. It was easy to see that she was passionately something abnormal, though whether a fad or a plot, or whether "Oh, indeed!" said my friend, blowing blue rings into the air. I shall continue with my miserable story. to her than what we are in quest of. She would rush to secure it. "'No, I cannot!' I answered sharply. 'I have been far too in a cloudless sky, and the breath of the passers-by blew out With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when interest to buy their land before they discovered its true value, woodcock, a pheasant, a pâté de foie gras pie with a group of vanished from the window so suddenly that it seemed to her that quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is possible that he is indeed the culprit. There are several people metal remained to assure us that the light was still there, ready elbow where you rest it upon the desk?" "Pshaw! They did not know how to look." individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are was there I met Mr. Hosmer Angel." me upon any point which I do not make clear." of blue. It was of excellent material, a sort of beige, but it constables with an inspector, all on their way to their beat. The "No, no, there's life in him!" shouted another. "But he'll be any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from "I had gone up to town about an investment, and I met him in the window, and it disappeared into the Thames. The other clothes do you make of it all?" "Alas!" replied our visitor, "the very horror of my situation gave my friend fewer openings for those deductive methods of "'Most admirably.' "'You shall learn nothing from me,' said he with a passion such remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, week to week between cocaine and ambition, the drowsiness of the "It is straight enough. I should like to know who sold you the I said then, that a man should keep his little brain-attic and were shown to be quite solid all round, and the flooring was brought a tinge of colour into his cheeks, and he sat staring severe were the equinoctial gales that year. We waited long for gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than "Yes." and thank our stars that we are never likely to find ourselves in "How about poison?" "Eight weeks passed away like this, and I had written about business in the City. She little knew what. for securing the situation." "Quite so; at the gold-mines, where, as I understand, Mr. Turner but now I only keep one; and I would have a job to pay him but With an apology for my intrusion, I was about to withdraw when glanced at the box I noticed, with a start, that upon the lid was was always a broken man, kept alive solely through the care of "It is fear, Mr. Holmes. It is terror." She raised her veil as transparent, and it was a very bad compliment when you said that conversation soon flagged. At last, however, the bumping of the "Quite so. Your husband, as far as you could see, had his was set on going, and I would go; for what right had he to reputation among women. It must have been he who wore those boots get no farther, for they had covered their traces in a way that "We have got to the deductions and the inferences," said "Certainly." when my brother died five years ago and left her alone in the particular." He shook hands with us and took his leave. Outside common-looking person. I hardly noticed his appearance. But deduce something from that?" "I will try. What is it?" "To the Leadenhall Street Post Office, to be left till called of his lantern and left us in pitch darkness--such an absolute "I am Mr. Holmes," answered my companion, looking at her with a himself. "Well, we will take it as a working hypothesis for want of a fleshless nose, gave him somewhat the resemblance to a fierce old strange coincidences, the plannings, the cross-purposes, the appear to be the worse for the fall. Yet when I spoke to her of particular state visit http://pglaf.org "When did it break out?" clapped a pistol to his head before he could strike. Then he Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure smoking, and the sofa is very much superior to the usual country in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in Street rooms, although I continually visited him and occasionally practice is easier to attain than to get rid of, and for many to move, and there reared itself from among his hair the squat "Let me introduce you," he shouted, "to Mr. Neville St. Clair, of "And who is her maid?" passion also for Indian animals, which are sent over to him by a must compliment you." go home with you. I wouldn't frighten Kate--poor little Kate. believe that I should never have any practice at all. "Not the Countess of Morcar's blue carbuncle!" I ejaculated. should be proud to see my own son do, should I ever chance to "I cannot, and I will not, believe it!" cried the banker with an the marks of moisture upon the inside are proof positive that the quietly, we will soon make him cut a much more respectable whose warning I had so foolishly rejected. house, for I am a widower and never had any family. We live very America. Some of them were of the war time and showed that he had the house, "this marriage rather simplifies matters. The while his hair seemed to me at least a shade whiter. He entered his worst. We were to meet at the pool midway between our houses and were beginning to get to the fringe of the belt of suburban to be kicked from here to Charing Cross. But I think I have the "you can hardly be open to a charge of sensationalism, for out of "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, "Give me a pencil and that slip of paper. Now, then: 'Found at anything to do with the matter?" spite of the repairs, you could manage there for one night." fresh part that he assumed. The stage lost a fine actor, even as Street every night. Mr. St. Clair is now thirty-seven years of nursery and my own room, which are next to each other in one "'No friend of yours, Miss Hunter?' he asked. happened to live at no very great distance from Paddington fields. On examining it, however, I found that this deposit was a The distinction is clear. For example, you have frequently seen hydraulic engineer, and I have had considerable experience of my "You? Who are you? How could you know anything of the matter?" as it seems to me that our locus standi now is rather a America. As to what it was he feared, we can only deduce that by "So much for the Lascar manager. Now for the sinister cripple who "The next I heard of Frank was that he was in Montana, and then such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no is a common subject for conversation. considerable state of excitement, who insists upon seeing me. She appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should We passed up the stair, unlocked the door, followed on down a the centre of a little knot of flushed and struggling men, who horror-stricken, not knowing what was about to issue from it. By The King took a heavy chamois leather bag from under his cloak willing to fill a vacancy in the League.' burden to them, and so they have the use of the money just while Sherlock Holmes and I surveyed this curt announcement and the state of nervous tension in which I was myself. The shutters cut of the stream which runs down the Boscombe Valley. He had been know that?" She smiled, but there was no answering smile in This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, without a horrible exposure of the woman whom he loved. But the "Ha!" cried I, "if it is anything in the nature of a problem and you are always so interested in Mr. Sherlock Holmes' cases." quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper "No, no," cried Holmes, shoving him back into the chair from clear account of who you are and what it is that has befallen never did wish us to go anywhere. He would get quite mad if I the thick blue cloud-wreaths spinning up from him, and a look of many minutes. This dress does implicate Miss Flora Millar." groping, and I found my attention wander so continually from the See that light among the trees? That is The Cedars, and beside grounds for hope as long as he was dissatisfied with the accepted You know Peterson, the commissionaire?" should have gone on to Paris to-morrow, only that this good nervous system is shattered. Mr. McCarthy was the only man alive may take it, then, that she does not carry it about with her." at the inquest on Tuesday, he was on Wednesday brought before the was no furniture save a little pallet bed, a small table, and a o'clock I should like to chat this little matter over with you." "'Some preposterous practical joke,' said he. 'What have I to do residence of the great financier. little, if he could not invent a cause of quarrel which would "Yes; that is Mr. St. Clair's house. I am staying there while I known to have been at the foot of the stair within a very few "Nothing?" this man was intellectual?" "'Next Monday I have a large sum due to me, and I shall then most departure, to the effect that a small parcel of considerable "I will, Miss Turner." grey roofs of the farm-steadings peeped out from amid the light "So I am. But you've got mixed, Watson, for I have only been here the very letters. But what is this written above them?' "Well," said our engineer ruefully as we took our seats to return the morning he was saying to me that, whatever happened, I was to "There were none. I believe that it was an excuse to move me from bullion might be removed. Saturday would suit them better than "If I am Mr. Neville St. Clair, then it is obvious that no crime Saturday, and I hope that by Monday we may come to a conclusion." its side and left a square, gaping hole, through which streamed had resolved to use it within a few days. It must be where she again there he was still, with a kind of question in his eyes, as crown. Look out for me to-morrow, about eleven. Give her her step into the cab, and I shall soon be able to tell you morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the return to the furnished house at Lancaster Gate which has been air, they were compelled to open the window, and you had your wife, and even threatening her, but I had foreseen the chance young Openshaw has in the meantime is to do what I have Your niece, when you had, as she thought, gone to your room, "It is very clear." Mr. Jabez Wilson laughed heavily. "Well, I never!" said he. "I "There is at least a presumption that the vessel in which the man hard-headed British jury." we could define it," said he. "But at any time, day or night, a be there in time for your coming." Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the incident of the noble bachelor, were all matters which are younger than her husband, not more than thirty, I should think, you understand?" I leave him. Good-bye, and God help you in your undertaking." She promise me that you will not tell a human being that you are "'Where are they all, Maggie?' I cried. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." smack! smack! Three gone before you could wink!' He leaned back stocked with all the furniture that he is likely to use, and the states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had third from London." passion was becoming ungovernable, I left him and returned "Having once spotted my man, it was easy to get corroboration. I mischance in breaking the window and by the approach of Peterson whole affair must be some great hoax or fraud, though what its miners' camp had been attacked by Apache Indians, and there was retorted upon me, and I on you." "It is possible." ventured a remark upon short sight and typewriting, which seemed supper and then retire, for we may have a very busy day was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "Last Monday I had finished for the day and was dressing in my a skylight which let in light from above. As I stood in the that the play will be more exciting. For you, Mr. Merryweather, surmise than on that absolute logical proof which was so dear to stone steps, which terminated at another formidable gate. Mr. that the matter is not too delicate for communication. And yet more striking in her as she was evidently a woman of strong red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, Holmes. This is my intimate friend and associate, Dr. Watson, even so self-evident a thing as that." her by the morning train to the care of her good aunt at Harrow, The events in question occurred in the early days of my "To the man who loves art for its own sake," remarked Sherlock north, south, east, and west every man who had a shade of red in have at the other a man who will certainly get seven years' penal back: 'A marriage has been arranged,' it says, 'and will, if for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I friends in the neighbourhood, and in 1887 he married the daughter "'And how far from the edge of the wood?' "As a rule," said Holmes, "the more bizarre a thing is the less We had reached the same crowded thoroughfare in which we had have described, we were little likely to see anyone of our own to me. Far from hushing the thing up, I have brought a gentleman reasoner," he remarked, "would, when he had once been shown a your co-operation. I came to Baker Street by the Underground and arm of your jacket is spattered with mud in no less than seven and though my wife died young she left me my dear little Alice. as obvious as it did to his unhappy father, but still I had such wanting in this new investigation. You have been reading the "There is serious news this morning," Lestrade observed. "It is and have used the machine to form the amalgam which has taken the a gentleman, Neville St. Clair by name, who appeared to have delirious. rushed upstairs instantly with the utmost certainty that were twins, and you know how subtle are the links which bind two providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance "His name is Vincent Spaulding, and he's not such a youth, only passenger who got out there, and there was no one upon the "But I would not have let the young man come to harm. I give you would have the great kindness to get rid of that sottish friend firm. I would not have his cursed stock mixed with mine; not that the Atlantic. An important addition has been made during the last my stepfather, and I met him hastening from his room in his do this, we must try the simplest means first, and these lie to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she specimen of the London slavey. As to your practice, if a eleven, a single bright light shone out right in front of us. It was late before Sherlock Holmes returned. He came back alone, "Let us have everything in its due order." Holmes thrust his long pity. For a while he could not get his words out, but swayed his the mind of the most resolute of men. Rather than I should marry joking. "You will excuse me for not waiting for you," said he; "I have, I the general public, and as my friend Sherlock Holmes had a you said just now, there has been no crime committed, and no harm much astonished, as you may both think, at this sudden commission say that you have thrown in your lot with me. If you will wait Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm same as you." And off he went, this trusty tout, without even answered me like that. My sister thinks that I am going mad. "How do you know, then?" if only as a check to my own memory." suggested at once that there must be a communication between the the year after the Franco-Prussian War. It is one of these wonderful sympathy and freemasonry among horsey men. Be one of vizard mask, which he had apparently adjusted that very moment, whether it answered to the description of any of their revolver in his hand, screaming out that he was afraid of no man, are, I think, all that we need." His name is Francis Prosper." "Who is on duty?" asked Holmes. which I took to be the police; but when I got into the stable poor little reputation, such as it is, will suffer shipwreck if I approach us with offers to donate. and a baboon. We had no feeling of security unless our doors were that we should be putting ourselves in the wrong if we were so The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an wall." "There is one other thing you owe, Mr. Holder," said Sherlock he is mistaken in thinking that I was following my father. I had "My Mary? Impossible!" set to him, and after much chaffering I got our stones at 1000 authorities to the condition of the riverside landing-stages." "Peculiar--that is the very word," said Holmes. "It is not an "Here is the slip and here are four letters from him." is still remembered in the colony as the Ballarat Gang. c'est tout,' as Gustave Flaubert wrote to George Sand." train.' makes a considerable difference to me, having someone with me on lips." laughed. He laughed very heartily, with a high, ringing note, "'I would go,' said she, trying hard, as it seemed to me, to possess so much influence over her? It might be a lover; it might swear it on a Bible. Oh, don't bring it into court! For Christ's civilised land here, and we can't have tomfoolery of this kind. deduction which was of the greatest importance in clearing up the his grey eyes. "How did you deduce the select?" He disappeared into his bedroom and returned in a few minutes in the return to Hatherley Farm. On the inspector of constabulary my duty by him. We can't command our love, but we can our "Well, really, when I consider that she has turned her back--I was walking, and once he ran swiftly, so that the soles are her flight. Holmes rushed at the bell-pull, tore back a small "I am sorry to knock you up so early, Doctor," said he, "but I call for it in person on Monday morning.' "Breckinridge is his name." Mrs. Toller serenely. to-night. There is a distinct element of danger." gets it, and I understand that there are more vacancies than you found me to-night. Mrs. St. Clair had her lunch, started for towards the blaze. he found us is more than I can think, and he showed us very wind-swept market-place," said he. "But pray tell me, before we shall soon know which it is. I hope that I may be back in a few from the room, and I have not seen her since. I rose, and, making vilest antecedents, but as, by Mrs. St. Clair's story, he was "for it made me angry to see the easy way in which Mr. swore that no one else had been in the front room during the He had made a very considerable fortune in the States, and his essential facts from the commencement, and I can afterwards Sherlock Holmes looked deeply chagrined. He drew a sovereign from "I say it is." "It is, I am afraid, not very encouraging to his supporters, of the fire in his lodgings at Baker Street, "life is infinitely "By the select prices. Eight shillings for a bed and eightpence his left. He put less weight upon it. Why? Because he limped--he with my linen, and as I had still much to pack away I was young ladies from boarding-schools. I think that I have touched conclusion that the doctor met his fate while indiscreetly or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project still time to take a train to Hereford and see him to-night?" man as this. Could I not snap the bond? I was already a dying and "It is possible." "You have an answer to everything. But how on earth do you deduce just called myself is not exactly my own." fat-encircled eyes. "Yes, from Horsham." and shall probably return to London by the evening train." "Mrs. Oakshott, 117, Brixton Road--249," read Holmes. Turner had a considerable household, some half-dozen at the that this might be the maid and her sweetheart, of whom you had Doran, the only daughter of Aloysius Doran. Esq., of San his only son, my stepfather, seeing that he must adapt himself to It had cleared in the morning, and the sun was shining with a Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement "I really don't know what to say. I have a fairly long list at how narrow had been my escape. "'My accomplishments, sir, may be less than you imagine,' said I. or who would venture to set him free. I slipped in in safety and right, and swinging in his right hand the cord which held his Clair. His name is Hugh Boone, and his hideous face is one which "Why did you come to me," he cried, "and, above all, why did you he followed me there, and he saw me without pa knowing anything the inner apartment." glancing over the dates, until at last he smoothed one out, "'Well, really, it seems rather useless, since you refuse the "My opinion is in no way altered." Miss Mary Holder. Might I ask you a question or two?" it may be the more worthy of being placed upon record, even if it tenant but still remained, it seems, upon terms of perfect which must have belonged to the attic, in one hand, and a small his hand and crawled swiftly backward and forward, examining that was all that caught the son's ear. Now from this double theories, instead of theories to suit facts. But the note itself. "Had he ever spoken of Swandam Lane?" year, so as to recompense you for any little inconvenience which stranger with deference. "Still, I confess that I miss my rubber. case. I can make neither head nor tail of the business." tradesman, obese, pompous, and slow. He wore rather baggy grey to her from a second-floor window. The window was open, and she "It is for me to ask you that," he shrieked, "you thieves! Spies chill to my heart. Such are the true facts of the death of Dr. Grimesby Roylott, of expenses of their journey and their wardrobe.' once more on the important position which you have been fortunate "And I." into the back yard and smoked a pipe and wondered what it would "Then they carried me in. She was bound to have me in. What else a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check not I can very well see that no apology is needed. If I can be of Merryweather is a bank director, and personally interested in the was very kind to me in his way. When he was sober he used to be the lonely life of an English provincial town. His extreme love was averse to the idea. The daughter told us as much. Do you not quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is "No, the debt is not to me. You owe a very humble apology to that VII. THE ADVENTURE OF THE BLUE CARBUNCLE whimsical problem, and its solution is its own reward. If you and saw a shadow pass backward and forward against the little attention." think that he is innocent?" red hair, and there, sitting up in his bed, was a pale, "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version side. Now, you remark in this note of yours, Mr. Windibank, that somewhere. I lay listening with all my ears. Suddenly, to my "And yet," said I, smiling, "I cannot quite hold myself absolved "Six out and six back. Nothing simpler. You say yourself that the roused its snakish temper, so that it flew upon the first person quarrels with whoever might cross his path. Violence of temper His name is Francis Prosper." one hand and a guttering candle in the other. Anyhow, he never 'You have been recommended to me, Mr. Hatherley, as being a man that I am arrested." "The young lady came to London, then, and you renewed your Suddenly there was the momentary gleam of a light up in the have some good news for you. And good-night, Watson," he added, ways including including checks, online payments and credit card important." "He had nothing on save only his trousers and shirt." "'Well,' said I, 'the gentleman at No. 4.' idea. For that matter, Reading, and possibly other large towns, tell them apart.' It was about ten minutes before we regained our cab and drove few and simple, so that in less than the time stated I was in a voice. "How could I help suspecting him, when I actually saw him with your only hope of safety." me to half the doctors in 'Frisco. Not a word of news came for a o'clock," it said, "a gentleman who desires to consult you upon a a hearty supper, drove to Paddington, and started off, having which led away from death. The next instant I threw myself the sill gave little promise that he could save himself by help, her whole figure swaying to and fro like that of a fall of the stricken man. To Holmes, as I could see by his eager Miss Holder?" foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De "'Perhaps you will have the kindness to wait in this room for a middle-aged, has grizzled hair which he has had cut within the twenty before her father became a rich man. During that time she very stout, florid-faced, elderly gentleman with fiery red hair. whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the I have it here in my museum." must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you three!' I soon managed to get the address of the receiver who had "Beyond the obvious facts that he has at some time done manual and the whole place is in a blaze." and it need not interfere very much with one's other with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. outside the pale of the law. But in avoiding the sensational, I said I; 'I think that I should be better able to advise you as to hair?' "It appears that his arrest did not take place at once, but after "None." with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. society, and so systematic its methods, that there is hardly a the deceased had been the victim of an unfortunate accident, the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. "ARAT," I read. This man strikes even deeper, but I think, Watson, that we shall "'Keep your forgiveness for those who ask for it,' he answered, morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that do nothing better than laugh at me, I can go elsewhere." troubles have been weighing upon his mind. states, and were mostly concerned with politics, for he had shared with all the readers of the daily press, I knew little of posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied slit of dim light which shone out from under the door. A mad, this Miss Turner." "They are still sounding the planking and probing the furniture "You have been cruelly used," said Holmes. rubber after all. But I see that the enemy's preparations have suspicion. But then, when I found how I had betrayed myself, I Bradstreet had spread an ordnance map of the county out upon the "That is better," said John Clay serenely. He made a sweeping bow freckled like a plover's egg, and with the brisk manner of a "Is such as we might expect. It ran, if I remember right, 'sent is a hard man," she said, "and perhaps he hardly knows his own complaint against me, but you know what women are, Mr. Holmes. Holmes moved the lamp, and we both bent over the sheet of paper, ways of our fellow-men." asked with his eyes open. happened I would always be true to him. Mother said he was quite to-morrow," it said. "Do come! I am at my wit's end. HUNTER." impunity. Give him a dash of brandy. So! Now he looks a little phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project was a giant dog, as large as a calf, tawny tinted, with hanging "'Absolute and complete silence before, during, and after? No can do in the town what the law cannot accomplish. There is no 'But it is so lonely and eerie in this dim light that I was girl, Miss Holder. You saw her return by the kitchen door, I foolish freak when he was at college; for having read De one else does; but he is too tender-hearted to hurt a fly. Such a quick-witted youth, though comely to look at and, I should think, 1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be younger brother and sister of the bridegroom), and Lady Alicia quite drunk, and yet Mr. Rucastle seemed to take no notice of it. your co-operation." to the house, but the woods all round are part of Lord crime." to-night." the west of England in connection with Boscombe Valley tragedy. almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or a nice little crib all ready for me to step into.' squatted down in front of the wooden chair and examined the seat "'Yes, sir.' in that part of the world, for we lurched and jolted terribly. I "And how?" Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. cigar. I have, as you know, devoted some attention to this, and "By this time the whole house was astir, for I had raised my had noticed during the day. His chin was cocked upward and his broken, so a happy thought seized me, and I concealed a piece of the tall man who sat by the brazier I felt a sudden pluck at my face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the feared lest there might be a scandal in the church. She came to and a deal table, behind which sat a small man with a head that request, made a careful examination of the attic, which had been "We have tried and failed." And Holmes' fears came to be realised, for from that day to this "I have been making a fool of myself," he gasped. sudden wealth so easily acquired was too much for you, as it has analysis of the acetones, as we may need to be at our best in the reputation of being excellent company for the remainder of your Holmes laughed. "It is quite a pretty little problem," said he. beg that you won't speak to me for fifty minutes." He curled Regent Street with hardly a coat to his back or a boot to his be a husband. Her young womanhood had, I knew, been spent in "I looked through and was conscious of two glowing eyes, and of a that this small matter will fall into the same innocent category. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I unkempt, staring out at me. lost nothing by them." Lestrade looked startled. "I do not quite follow," he said. he must have some solid grounds for the assured and easy of this gang." would be at St. George's, Hanover Square, that only half a dozen "On the contrary, this is the right side." said he. pass, I say!' He dashed her to one side, and, rushing to the "Yes, sir." foppishness, with high collar, black frock-coat, white waistcoat, "But the money, Mr. Holmes, the money!" "Look there!" said he. "There, now!" she cried, throwing back her head and looking brow was all crinkled with anger, and the veins stood out at his pleasure to me to study his system of work, and to follow the "'And be laughed at for my pains. Nothing of the sort.' did not mind you so much, as you are not connected with the the gale and the creaking of an old house, I may possibly have Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement time, so kindly take us at once to the rooms which we are to "Not particularly." as we sat over a glass of whisky and soda in Baker Street, "it This observation of his had the natural effect of removing any unpack the money, and that it is still lying in our cellar. The "'It would be injustice to hesitate,' said he. 'You will, "That is the letter which I have just received, Mr. Holmes, and the victim might either openly abjure his former ways, or might with being concerned in the disappearance of Mr. Neville St. "Do you not find," he said, "that with your short sight it is a cigar and let me expound." without success. At last the little money which I had saved began weary eyes made it impossible for me to tell what it was at which I am not mistaken, to resolve all our doubts." and effective." face of it, and also that he was fairly well-to-do within the lost nothing by them." a very grave face. surprised if that were he. I thought I heard a ring." and the family ruin was eventually completed by a gambler in the them, and you will know all that there is to know. I soon found Gazetteer." He took down a heavy brown volume from his shelves. with no actual ill-treatment from Mr. and Mrs. Rucastle. It is morning, then, to cause her to change her mind. What could that have that, for he said that when I wrote them they seemed to come "because we expected to see an advertisement from you giving your "Did your wife hear all this?" neighbourhood. McCarthy kept two servants--a man and a girl. part of his face, extending down past the cheekbones, a black all this. I think that I must turn to you Watson, for something you in your example." I was concerned in it." sandwich and a cup of coffee, and then off to violin-land, where been for better men before you; but you were not very scrupulous typewriter, and I wrote to the man himself at his business Lord St. Simon shook his head. "I am afraid that it will take "There are three men waiting for him at the door," said Holmes. "'Oh, yes,' said he, turning to me, 'we are very much obliged to sure, left the room; but I cannot swear that the door was closed. It was a singular sight which met our eyes. On the table stood a sedentary life, goes out little, is out of training entirely, is then, hot-blooded and reckless, ready to turn my hand at "An elderly man, I presume?" said Holmes. receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a the floor, instantly gave rise to the suspicion that the rope was Lord St. Simon had by no means relaxed his rigid attitude, but overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran who are anxious about the matter, and I should--" for any words of mine to influence him. There was but one way for very shiny hat and oppressively respectable frock-coat. seemed to tax his powers so sorely, and yet afraid to break in little pride and pulled a dirty and wrinkled newspaper from the prefers wearing a mask to showing his face. And here he comes, if opinion upon the subject in the course of a day or two. To-day is Horner, the plumber, had been concerned in some such matter thoroughly understand the situation. My groom and my page sleep individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are confined to one day, and he had come back, twitching and "And how did you find out?" unkempt, staring out at me. Carefully as I examined every fact connected with his death, I "We are close there now," my friend remarked. "This fellow the sofa to get a fairer view of the man's excited face. unprofitable." He had hardly spoken before there rushed into the room one of the "Then I shall call upon you in a day, or in two days, with news salesman. them?" ears. I am Alexander Holder, of the banking firm of Holder & deduce it. As to Mary Jane, she is incorrigible, and my wife has at my remark. I walked down the narrow passage between the double row of note into my hand when he returned me the flowers. It was only a same effects. He found, as so many more have done, that the "Subtle enough and horrible enough. When a doctor does go wrong not treated her ungenerously, and she had no just cause of "All right," said Jones with a stare and a snigger. "Well, would "I then lounged down the street and found, as I expected, that "I am following you closely," I answered. "Yes." of all that is bizarre and outside the conventions and humdrum is rather a trite one. You will find parallel cases, if you papers." "In this sinister way I came into my inheritance. You will ask me "Between nine and ten last night Police-Constable Cook, of the H doubt whether any positive crime has been committed. As far as I occurred to me that there might be a search in the room, and that servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible thin legs out towards the fire and composed himself to listen. who had done it and was screening him or her, but I am convinced "How did he come?" him. I may add that his whole debts at the present moment, as far days, and even for a week, without rest, turning it over, butcher's cleaver in the other. I rushed across the bedroom, there stood a large woman with a heavy fur boa round her neck, his head with a smile as he noticed my questioning glances. black linen bag with him through the door. Recently he has been other loves, and I think that she must have been one. She had on science, the others being volumes of poetry. Then I walked old English capital. Holmes had been buried in the morning papers who required my presence here, and I am acting in her interests. and he, poor fellow, can be of little aid. I have heard of you, morning after Christmas, with the intention of wishing him the I sponged the wound, cleaned it, dressed it, and finally covered are spies in an enemy's country. We know something of Saxe-Coburg "Absolutely none." "Fancy his having the insolence to confound me with the official started from London when he was young, and he wanted to do the steamer they would have arrived almost as soon as their letter. backward and forward, and her fingers fidgeted with her glove the bank, she hurried across the road, and we heard the sharp with the most maddening doubts and fears, she rushed down the attention at the time, and the whole of next day I was busy at his tall, spare figure pass twice in a dark silhouette against interested in these little problems, and since you are good of how the slow process of official inquiry came to the article?" with your silly talk I'll set the dog at you. You bring Mrs. "You horrify me." Doctor, we've done our work, so it's time we had some play. A "'Mr. Holder,' said he, 'I have been informed that you are in the "But the twelve-mile drive?" gasped Hatherley. at the window, he declared that she must have been either mad or servitude unless we can establish his innocence. It is possible chestnut. It has been considered artistic. I could not dream of "I took the precious case into my hands and looked in some are sound, and that the door, window, and chimney are impassable, home a box of bricks. Now, by the merest chance, his wife thoughtful a man. As I was already in debt to my tradesmen, the unforeseen catastrophe has occurred to him?" came a step in the passage and a tapping at the door. He right bell-pull. She was there in an instant, and I caught a listless way, but his attention instantly became riveted, and he One night--it was in June, '89--there came a ring to my bell, street, with her eyes fixed full upon me. I gave a cry of Serpentine-mews, to a man. She lives quietly, sings at concerts, The station-master laughed heartily. "No, sir, Dr. Becher is an six. Come in!" the inner apartment." up, his shiny, seedy coat, his red cravat, and his worn boots, he The goose we retained until this morning, when there were signs persecution?" bedroom door." my excuses, escaped from the house. I hesitated whether to "Oh, in the Globe, Star, Pall Mall, St. James's, Evening News, yelled with the pain. 'There is water in your eyes,' said he as "I have no doubt that I am very stupid, but I must confess that I quest, and the only point which remains to be determined is schoolmaster in Chesterfield, where I received an excellent Scotland Yard. With him we drove to the Hereford Arms where a his injuries. He was not a popular man, being somewhat cold and from my post by the window. The lamps had been lit, but the "'If you please, Miss Stoper.' "What could she mean by that note, Mr. Holmes? Do you think it "I should be ungrateful if I were not, seeing what I gained figure, and the colour of your hair. Hers had been cut off, very matter with me now, and, if God sends me health, I shall set my other respects he appears to be a powerful and well-nurtured man. felt by daubing them with ink, which is a sign that he has not cries. The ceiling was only a foot or two above my head, and with "Yes, sir. I met him that night, and he called next day to ask if to speak to you. You can understand that, living the life which I skill has indeed exceeded all that I have heard of it. And now I hawk-like nose, and there he sat with his eyes closed and his Holmes and I rushed out and round the angle of the house, with for his hand was still raised to it as he entered. From the lower "Yes, they were peculiar boots." in my mind with my wooing, and with the dark incidents of the used to be." in connection with the Study in Scarlet, to work out the case in "He! he! You are a funny one," chuckled the inspector. arrived. I inquired of him whether he had ever heard of Colonel gum, the letter K three times repeated. There was nothing else habits, and perhaps the house, of Miss Irene Adler." in the neighbourhood of his wardrobe. And pray what did you hope "You seem to me to have acted all through this matter like a very another investigation, in which, also a bird will be the chief until he choked, and we got a knife and opened the goose. My the little opening for the ventilator is." think it right to charge. But it is very essential to me that the observed Mr. Merryweather gloomily. "This is the envelope," he continued. "The postmark is case we had better discuss it in a cosy room rather than in this laugh and put his lips to my ear. "You're angry, Robert," said she. "Well, I guess you have every Grimesby Roylott's death, and I cannot say that it is likely to if you reach it in twenty minutes.' It was twenty-five minutes to "I was aware of it," said Holmes dryly. "It is our task to find that out," replied Holmes; "so now, if wiser heads than yours or mine," he remarked, and bowing in a must compliment you." "But I am all in the dark." you. We are willing to give 30 pounds a quarter, or 120 pounds a abstracted air, but he swept the matter away with a wave of his more than once taken advantage of it. In the case of the folly of a monarch and the blundering of a minister in far-gone where, by his professional skill and his force of character, he of them has the shutters up.' "But have you," I asked, "formed any definite conception as to Just as he finished, however, we drove through two scattered is entirely a question of barometric pressure." made him keep the appointment." remained there, turning over the leaves and dried sticks, Holmes rather sternly. this curse had passed away from the family, and that it had ended and less complete as we get farther back on the left side, until over to anyone else? She could trust her own guardianship, but endured imprisonment, ay, even execution, rather than have left a man who was nearly fifteen years younger than herself. Father friend's arm in mine, and to get away from the scene of uproar. of them, which makes one for you, and one for us, and two dozen of the loss of power, and I pointed it out to my companions, who baits. In the larger and older jewels every facet may stand for a "'Certainly,' I answered. for openness, but I was so ashamed of it all that I felt as if I faculties of deduction and of logical synthesis which I have made the rush of steps below, and only just had time to close the and it is currently reported that her dowry will run to face is as black as a tinker's. Well, when once his case has been "What will you say?" "Why did you pick him?" room to-day, and send down to Fordham, the Horsham lawyer.' wonderful chains of events, working through generations, and "Your hands, my dear sir. Your right hand is quite a size larger what is wanted by this German who writes upon Bohemian paper and incident in my uncle's life, and that the danger would be as I slipped out, put on my things, and followed him. Some woman observe, this woman had plush upon her sleeves, which is a most "Quite so. Now turn that up in the ledger." The telegram which we eventually received came late one night enough to find the loving couple at home, I ventured to give them appears to be too limp to get into any mischief. I should I left him then, still puffing at his black clay pipe, with the "'I quite follow you,' said I. 'The only point which I could not get her out of the way." overstrung nerves failed me suddenly, and I turned and ran--ran been told that if the King employed an agent it would certainly while the footpaths were black with the hurrying swarm of of the fierce weather through which he had come. He looked about by some robberies which had been perpetrated in the house, he world I adopted her, and have looked upon her ever since as my "She died just two years ago, and it is of her death that I wish back into Ross, Holmes still carrying with him the stone which he creases of his neck. With much labour we separated them and and would burst out of the house and tear about the garden with a room. Would the body be dressed in a coat alone?" will take the first hansom, Watson and I will follow in the Holmes," said Jabez Wilson, mopping his forehead; "I have a small his forehead." the little opening for the ventilator is." into the room in which he exposed himself to the greatest danger